Search / charles fairfax

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Sir Vincent Charles Fairfax CMG (1909-1993), pastoralist, was the son of JHF Fairfax.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles John Fairfax, c. 1860

Edwin Dalton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

John Fairfax, 1873

Charles Summers

Portrait, carrara marble

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Rod McNicol

'Life and Times'

Echoing 19th-century photography, Rod McNicol's portraits give us a chance to look quietly at the human condition.

Sir Vincent Fairfax, 1981

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm, 1961

Sir William Dargie CBE

Magazine article by Sarah Hill, 2001

Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001

The Wonder Years

Sarah Hill introduces the portrait busts of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm by Enid Fleming.

Charles Ulm

Charles Ulm (1898-1934) began work as a clerk in a stockbroking office after he left school, but enlisted under a false identity in the 1st Battalion of the AIF just before his 16th birthday.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Teo AM

Charles Teo AM (b. 1957) is a neurosurgeon. Born in Sydney, where he attended Scots College and graduated in medicine and surgery from the University of New South Wales, he worked for some years at the Children’s Medical Center, Dallas, Texas and was Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Arkansas.

1 portrait in the collection

Jack Charles

Jack Charles (1943–2022) was a revered Wiradjuri, Boon Warrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Yorta Yorta Elder, activist, actor, musician and artist.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Turner

Charles Turner (1773-1851), engraver, was born in Oxfordshire and moved to London at the end of the 1780s.

2 portraits in the collection

Jack Charles

In their own words

Recorded 2022

Charles Kean

Charles Kean (1811-1868), actor, threw in his Eton education when his mother was deserted by his penniless father, the tragedian Edmund Kean.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Hewitt

Born in Lincolnshire, Charles Hewitt (1837–1912) had begun working in Melbourne by 1860 and was one of the founding members of the Photographic Society of Victoria.

3 portraits in the collection

Charles Blackman OBE

Charles Blackman OBE (1928–2018), artist, studied at East Sydney Technical College and worked as a press artist for the Sun newspaper before moving to Melbourne, where he came to the attention of arts patron John Reed.

9 portraits in the collection

Charles Abraham

Charles Abraham, son of a London architect, trained at the Royal Academy schools under the sculptor Sierier, and for a further three years in Paris and Rome.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Troedel

Charles Troedel (1835-1906), born in Hamburg, was working in Norway when he was headhunted by AW Schuhkrafft, a Melbourne printer who seeking European craftsmen.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Brome

Charles Brome, engraver, trained from the age of fourteen with the engraver Skelton in London and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1798 to 1801.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Rodius

Charles Rodius (aka Rhodius) was born in Germany and went to England sometime before 1829, when he was convicted of stealing a reticule and transported to NSW for seven years.

4 portraits in the collection

Charles Woolley

Charles Alfred Woolley (1834-1922), photographer and sketcher, ran a studio on Macquarie Street in Hobart from 1859 to 1870, producing numerous portraits along with views and stereographs of Hobart and surrounding areas.

6 portraits in the collection

Sir Charles Mackerras AC KT CBE

Sir (Alan) Charles Mackerras AC CBE (1925-2010) was chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1982 to 1985.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Charles Moses

Sir Charles Moses (1900-1988), legendary General Manager of the ABC from 1935 to 1965, was born 21 January 1900 in Lancaster, UK and migrated to Australia in 1922, after four years in the army.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Windeyer

Charles Windeyer (1780-1855), magistrate, emigrated to Australia in 1828, having worked as a journalist, publisher and parliamentary reporter in London.

2 portraits in the collection

Dr Charles Perry

Charles Perry (1807-1891) was consecrated the first Bishop of Melbourne at Westminster Abbey in 1847, only eleven years after he was ordained into the Anglican church.

4 portraits in the collection

Sir Charles Nicholson

Sir Charles Nicholson (1808-1903), statesman, landowner, businessman, connoisseur, scholar and physician, was born illegitimately into unpropitious circumstances in Yorkshire.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Wheeler

Charles Wheeler OBE (1881–1977), artist, won the Archibald Prize in 1933 for a portrait of the popular Melbourne-based writer Ambrose Pratt.

8 portraits in the collection

Charles Summers

Charles Summers (1825-1878) was an English born sculptor, who came to Australia in 1852.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Chauvel

Charles Chauvel (1897-1959), actor and film-maker, worked on the sets of Snowy Baker films as a young man, and followed the great action hero to Hollywood in 1921.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Tingwell AM

Charles 'Bud' Tingwell AM (1923-2009), actor, became the youngest radio announcer in Australia when he was employed at Sydney radio station 2CH as a cadet.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Perkins AO

Charles Perkins AO (1936–2000) was an Indigenous rights campaigner and bureaucrat.

6 portraits in the collection

Charles Mackerras

In their own words

Recorded 1971

Charles Blackman

In their own words

Recorded 1965

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rob and Paula McLean 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Radclyffe Hall

Charles Buchel

Portrait, pastel with ink wash on paper

Self portrait, c. 1849

Charles Rodius

Purchased 2009

Jack Charles, 2011

Rod McNicol

Purchased 2013

Charles Warman Roberts

Charles Warman Roberts (1821–1894), publican, was born in Sydney, the eldest son of free settler parents who emigrated to Australia in 1821.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith MC AFC

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith MC AFC (1897- last seen 1935) and Captain Charles Ulm (1898-last seen 1934) together founded Australian National Airlines.

3 portraits in the collection

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891 from Australasia Illustrated

Charles Cameron Kingston PC KC

Charles Cameron Kingston was a delegate from South Australia to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney, 1891.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Joseph La Trobe

Charles Joseph La Trobe (1801-1875), colonial administrator, travelled widely in Europe and America before beginning his colonial career in the West Indies in 1837.

3 portraits in the collection

Charles John Cerutty CMG

Charles John Cerutty CMG (1870-1941), public servant, began his career at the age of eighteen as a clerk in the Victorian Department of the Treasurer.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Charles Lloyd Jones

Sir Charles Lloyd Jones (1878-1958), merchant and arts patron, grew up in Sydney, where he studied at Julian Ashton's art school in 1895.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Gibson Millar

Charles Gibson Millar (1839–1900), entrepreneur, was engaged in a number of industrial and agricultural enterprises in Australia during the 1870s, 80s and 90s.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Haddon Chambers

Charles Haddon Chambers (1860-1921), playwright and dramatist, grew up in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Charles Edward Merrett CBE

Sir Charles Edward Merrett CBE (1863-1948), merchant and agriculturalist, was a schoolboy at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School when his father was retrenched and died.

1 portrait in the collection

Anthony Charles Carden

Anthony Charles Carden (1961–1995), activist and actor, became interested in performance while a school student at Knox Grammar, Wahroonga.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Charles Nicholson, 1898

Elliott and Fry

Gift of Stephen Scheding and Jim Berry 2015

Charles Kean, c. 1865

H N. King

'We're village elders on Smith Street'

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Rod McNicol and Jack Charles

Portrait, glass plate negative

Rod and Jack on the series of portraits they created together.

Trukanini, 1866 (printed 1890s)

Charles Woolley

Purchased 2011

Captain Ulm, 1932

Enid Fleming

Portrait, cast plaster, patinated

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001

Charlie's angles

Magazine article by Stephen Phillips, 2017

Stephen Phillips talks to neurosurgeon Charlie Teo about his practice, perspectives and the anatomy of hope.

Bungaree, Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe, N S Wales

Bungaree, Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe, N S Wales, c. 1830

Charles Rodius

Purchased 2018

Mary Seacole

Albert Charles Challen

Tim Fairfax AC

Event, Selected days until Friday 17 May

Tim Fairfax AC (b.1946), company director, grazier and philanthropist, is a founding benefactor of the National Portrait Gallery and a former chair of its board of directors.

1 portrait in the collection

Little Faces

Do we have a treat for the smaller humans in your life! Little Faces is for babies and toddlers (with their grown up) to play, sing and have fun discovering a portrait together.

Art Cart

The Doll's Gallery

Event, Daily until Sunday 30 June

Adventure into a miniature world this autumn. Create your own paper doll inspired by portraits in our collection. Then make your own chair for your doll to have a rest in our mini-Gallery with portraits of people taking a seat!

Virtual Excursions

Current programs for school groups

Live, interactive learning programs coming soon wherever you are.

The Family

by Charles Blackman

Portrait, cast bronze on mosaic tile panel

Meredith McKinney, subject of Charles Blackman's 'The Family', recounts memories from her childhood and the creation of the portrait.

Sir Charles Mackerras, 1983

Arthur Fleischmann

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Sir Charles Mackerras 2009

The Right Honourable Charles Lord Hawkesbury, Chancellor of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1729–1808), statesman, was educated at Oxford and entered parliament in 1761.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Windeyer, 1830s

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Charles Moses, 1968

Mark Strizic

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2003

Charles Blondin, 1874

Timothy Noble

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Sir Charles Nicholson, 1854

Thomas Woolner

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased through the Foundation Acquisitions Fund 2015

Portrait of Charles Blackman, 1979

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen, watercolour on paper

Gift of Warwick Evans 2021. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Charles Perkins, 1974

Frank Hinder

Gift of HOTA (Home of the Arts), Gold Coast 2019 with the encouragement of Patrick Corrigan AM

Charles Perkins on bus to Tranby Aboriginal College, Glebe

Charles Perkins on bus to Tranby Aboriginal College, Glebe, c. 1964 (printed 2015)

Purchased 1999

Small Holdings (The Earl Carrington Baron Charles Robert Carrington)

Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington

Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington (1843–1928), 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire, landowner and Liberal politician, was governor of New South Wales in the late 1880s.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Perkins on bus to Tranby Aboriginal College, Glebe, c. 1964 (printed 2003)

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Charles Perry, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Charles Wheeler, 1961

Louis Kahan AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Charles Windeyer, c. 1846-1849

George B. Goodman

Portrait, daguerreotype

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

Charles Blackman, 1992

Greg Weight

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Charles Blackman, 2008

Sahlan Hayes

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010

Charles Perry, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Colonel Charles E. Merrett, 1925

A S. Peterson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Sir Ernest Thomas Fisk, 1943-1944

Portrait, coloured chalk and black ink on artist board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

The family, c. 1955

Portrait, inkjet print from a scanned colour transparency on paper

Portrait, oil on board

Gift of Barbara Blackman 2000. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Albert Namatjira, c. 1954-1958 (printed 2017)

Charles Chauvel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Portrait of Georges Mora, 1956

Portrait, oil on paper laid on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II), 1942-1943

Purchased 2019

Melbourne University with portraits of six Melbourne Anglican clergymen: Bishop Perry, Revd Clarke, Revd Waugh, Revd Henderson, Revd Dr Cairns, Revd Bailey

Melbourne University with portraits of six Melbourne Anglican clergymen: Bishop Perry, Revd Clarke, Revd Waugh, Revd Henderson, Revd Dr Cairns, Revd Bailey, c. 1871

Paterson Brothers

Purchased 2010

Rosina Carandini, mid 1860s

Charles Hewitt

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Fannie Carandini, mid 1860s

Charles Hewitt

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Kumantjayi Perkins at the Roma Forum, Brisbane

Kumantjayi Perkins at the Roma Forum, Brisbane, 1982

Juno Gemes

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

In memory of the Rev William Hill, 1869

Charles Wherrett

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Peripheral vision

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2020

Aimee Board chats to emerging photographer Charles Dennington.

C.J. Cerutty, 1926

Tom Glover

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Celine Céleste, c. 1860

Charles Clarkington

J.W. Beattie after Charles Woolley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Trukanini, n.d.

Portrait, oil and gold leaf on cedar panel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Allanah Dopson and Nicholas Heyward 2009

Acacius (Stigmata) - Tony Carden, 1991

AñA Wojak

Gift of Lesley Saddington 2015

Bud Tingwell, 2005

John Tsiavis

Charles Woolley, J.W. Beattie

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Cooneana (Patty), 1866 (printed c. 1891)

Portrait, glass plate negative

Purchased 2011

William Lanne, 1866 (printed 1890s)

Charles Woolley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Hon. John Fairfax MLC

John Fairfax (1805-1877) was a newspaper publisher whose purchase of the Sydney Morning Herald in 1841 began a family association with the paper that would last for over five generations and nearly 150 years.

3 portraits in the collection

Sarah Fairfax

Sarah Reading (1808-1875) came to Sydney from England in 1838 with her husband, John Fairfax (1805-1877), who had left school at the age of twelve and been apprenticed to a printer and bookseller.

1 portrait in the collection

Elizabeth Fairfax

Elizabeth Fairfax (née Jesson, 1778–1861), colonial free settler, was born in Birmingham and around 1800 married William Fairfax, whose family had previously held estates in Barford, Warwickshire.

1 portrait in the collection

Emily Fairfax

Emily Ross (née Fairfax) (1832-1871) was the eldest child of newspaper publisher John Fairfax - who founded the Fairfax news dynasty in Sydney in 1841 - and his wife Sarah.

1 portrait in the collection

James Fairfax AO

'Judge a person by their cover'

James Oswald Fairfax AC (1933-2017) was the eldest son of Sir Warwick Fairfax.

1 portrait in the collection

Ned Kelly and death masks

Alexandra Roginski explains the history behind the pseudo-science of phrenology.

Tom Carroll

Regarded as one of the greatest surfers of all time, Tom Carroll describes his career.

Charles Lloyd Jones, n.d.

Louis Kahan AO

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Charles Joseph La Trobe, 1853

Thomas Woolner

Purchased 2006

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, 1932

Enid Fleming

Portrait, cast plaster, patinated

Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001

Charles Teo, 2012

Adam Chang (Hong Jun Zhang)

Portrait, ink and watercolour on cardboard

Gift of Eleonora Triguboff 2013

Charles Haddon Chambers, 1921

Ralph Barton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Sir Charles Lloyd Jones, 1951

Sir William Dobell OBE

Portrait, oil on composition board

Gift of the Simpson family in memory of Caroline Simpson OAM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A Popular Preacher. "Charity Covereth a Multitude of Sins" [Charles Clark], 1873

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Adut Akech, 2018 (printed 2020)

Gift of the artist 2020

Adut Akech with brother Bior, 2018 (printed 2020)

Gift of the artist 2020

Adut Akech with baby sister Akoul, 2018 (printed 2020)

Gift of the artist 2020

Adut Akech with siblings Kim, Yar, Bior and Alakiir

Adut Akech with siblings Kim, Yar, Bior and Alakiir, 2018 (printed 2020)

Gift of the artist 2020

Henry Chamberlain Russell and family at Sydney Observatory

Henry Chamberlain Russell and family at Sydney Observatory, c. 1895

Charles Bayliss

J.W. Beattie after Charles Woolley

Gift of Joanna Russell Maher (née Windeyer) 2018

William Lanne, c. 1866

Charles Fox after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by
Allanah Dopson & Nicholas Heyward 2009

Dr. Arthur Martin a'Beckett, 1845

Charles Abraham

Portrait, cast plaster

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Alexander MacLeay, c. 1845

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, c. 1863

John & Charles Watkins

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

William Lyne, late 1860s

Charles Woolley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Sir James Reading Fairfax KT

James Reading Fairfax (1834 -1919) was the second of John Fairfax's sons to join him in business.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Warwick Oswald Fairfax

Sir Warwick Oswald Fairfax (1901-1987), grandson of Sarah and James Fairfax, was the only son of Sir James Fairfax, who had become a partner in the company in the 1880s.

1 portrait in the collection

Tim Fairfax AC, 2018

Russell Shakespeare

Commissioned with funds provided by The Calvert-Jones Foundation 2018

Marcie Elizabeth Fairfax

Marcie Elizabeth 'Betty' Fairfax (1907–1995) was a leading figure in fashionable circles in Sydney in the 1920s and 1930s.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Sir James Oswald Fairfax, 1929

W.A. Bowring

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Mr Geoffrey E. Fairfax, 1929

W.A. Bowring

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Tan Le

'So many stars'

'Drawing the human spirit'

Tech entrepreneur Tan Le and photographer John Tsiavis.

Michael Leunig

Philosopher, cartoonist and national treasure, Michael Leunig discusses his art.

Ken Done

'I am very Sydney'

Iconic Australian artist Ken Done discusses his life and career as a painter.

Cadel Evans

'I believed in myself'

Australian champion cyclist Cadel Evans discusses his career.

Aldo Giurgola

by Mandy Martin

Romaldo Giurgola talks about his portrait and the relationship between architecture and landscape.

Marilyn Darling

by Anne Zahalka

Marilyn Darling talks about the creation of her portrait, and the photographic process.

Jacqueline Mitelman

'Buddha-nature'

'Learning to write saved my life'

Australian photographer, Jacqueline Mitelman, discusses her process for creating portraiture.

Christos Tsiolkas

Acclaimed Australian author, Christos Tsiolkas describes his childhood and how he came to write.

Peter Sculthorpe

'Brings in the sun'

Legendary Australian composer, Peter Sculthorpe, describes the development of his career.

Akira Isogawa

Inside the patterns

Iconic Australian fashion designer, Akira Isogawa discusses the development of his unique style.

Kate Grenville

'The secret river'

'You've got to make of it what you will'

Kate Grenville reads a passage from her novel The secret river and describes its creation.

Mark Webber

'Complex stories without words'

Champion racing driver, Mark Webber, discusses his childhood and racing career.

David McAllister

'Swimming is in my bones'

Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, David McAllister describes the trajectory of his relationship with dance.

Shane Gould

'The small space we are given'

Shane Gould, Australian champion and Olympic gold medallist talks about her passion for swimming.

Mark Loane

Ophthalmic surgeon and former Wallabies Captain, Mark Loane, discusses his sporting and professional career.

Betty Churcher

'Blockbuster Betty'

No choice, you’re going surfing, son

Betty Churcher discusses her career as the Director of the National Gallery of Australia.

Mark Richards

Australian surfing legend Mark Richards describes his professional surfing and surfboard shaping careers.

Glenn Murcutt

'Strength and delicacy'

'Together we will give victims a voice and demand our leaders act'

Award-winning Australian architect, Glenn Murcutt describes the philosophy of his architectural practice and his minimalist portrait by Ken Done.

Rosie Batty

The 2015 Australian of the Year talks about grief and searching for recognition of, and action on, domestic violence.

Charles Warman Roberts, 1878

George Baird Shaw

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Thoms family 2011

Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie

Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington (1860–1940) had served four years in the House of Commons before being appointed governor of Queensland in October 1895.

1 portrait in the collection

An Irish Patriot. "Why is Ireland Poor? I'm not!" [Sir Charles Gavan Duffy], 1874

International News Photos Inc

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Charles Kingsford Smith and crew of the Southern Cross before the east-west crossing of the Atlantic, June 1930

Charles Kingsford Smith and crew of the Southern Cross before the east-west crossing of the Atlantic, June 1930, 1930

Purchased 2019

Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen A. L. Best, 1943-1944

Purchased 2019

Dr Ludwig Leichhardt, 1846

Charles Rodius

Purchased 2004

Lord Casey, c. 1932

Portrait, conté, brush and ink on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2003

Big bouquet of Blackmans

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Dr. Sarah Engledow explores the context surrounding Charles Blackman's portrait of Judith Wright, Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith.

Fine and dandy

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Whether the result of misadventure or misdemeanour, many accomplished artists were transported to Australia where they ultimately left a positive mark on the history of art in this country.

The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Melbourne

The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Melbourne, 1839

Charles Turner after Sir George Hayter

Portrait, carrara marble on scagliola column

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

John Fairfax, mid to late 19th century

Achille Simonetti

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir James Reading Fairfax, 1898

Tom Roberts

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on board

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Mrs Fairfax, n.d.

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

John Fairfax, c. 1860

Edwin Dalton

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Emily Fairfax, 1870

William Macleod

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

The Fairfax Gift

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

This article examines the portraits gifted to the National Portrait Gallery by Fairfax Holdings in 2003.

James Oswald Fairfax, c. 1991

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Mrs Sarah Fairfax, c. 1864

Edwin Dalton

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Michelle Simmons

Eureka moment

Professor Michelle Simmons and photographer Selina Ou.

Tim Flannery by Robert Hannaford

'The space around'

Tim Flannery and artist Robert Hannaford discuss the creation of Tim's portrait.

Professor Graeme Clark

'Scientific creativity'

In defence of the 'leech ridden ditch'

Creator of the bionic ear, the Cochlear Implant, Professor Graeme Clark discusses his life and career.

Bob Brown

'A celebration of science'

Bob Brown discusses the events that occurred during the Franklin River campaign as depicted in his portrait by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.

Brian Schmidt

Samuel Bellin after Francis Grant

Astrophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate and Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University, Professor Brian Schmidt chats about his career.

Charles Joseph La Trobe, c. 1857

Batchelder & Company Photo

Purchased 2010

Charles Summers, late 1860s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Sir Roland Hibbert Cross, 1943-1944

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Pre-Raphaelite Profile

In 2006 the National Portrait Gallery acquired a splendid portrait of Victoria's first governor, Lieutenant Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe by Thomas Woolner.

Reverend Daniel Draper, c. 1866

Fredrick Charles Burman after John Cochran

Charles Rodius, Hiberian Printing Office

Purchased 2010

John Knatchbull, Murderer of Mrs Ellen Jamieson

John Knatchbull, Murderer of Mrs Ellen Jamieson, 1844

Gift of Leo Schofield AM 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Warwick Fairfax, 1981

Portrait, pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Marcie Elizabeth Wilson, 1922

George Lambert

Gift of the Simpson family in memory of Caroline Simpson OAM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Catherine Livingstone

A conversation between artist and subject

Businesswoman Catherine Livingstone and artist Mathew Lynn.

David Foster

'What the tree saw'

World champion woodcutter David Foster and artist Jacqui Stockdale.

Andrew Gaze

'Make it fun'

Basketballer Andrew Gaze and photographer George Fetting.

Jessica Mauboy

'Chaos and stillness'

Singer, songwriter and actress Jessica Mauboy with artist David Rosetzky.

Gordon Darling

by Jiawei Shen

An interview with Nicholas Harding

Gordon Darling talks about how Jiawei Shen came to paint his portrait.

Robert Drewe

Artist Nicholas Harding talks about what was captured in his portrait of Robert Drewe.

Nikki Toole

'Beauty and strength'

Photographer Nikki Toole describes the creation of her portrait of Rosie Batty.

Kate Grenville

'Making Stories'

Australian writer Kate Grenville discusses her career and portrait by Jenny Sages.

Mandyam Srinivasan

'Hive minds'

An interview with Professor of Visual Neuroscience, University of Queensland, Mandyam Srinivasan.

Portrait of Cate Blanchett

by David Rosetzky

'The person who is the writer'

David Rosetzky and Cate Blanchett talk about the creation of their video portrait.

David Malouf

'A portrait of Hugo Weaving'

Australian author David Malouf discusses the creation of his portrait by artist Rick Amor.

Nicholas Harding

'Consciousness, iPhones and philosophical zombies'

Artist Nicholas Harding talks about how he became interested in portraiture, and his motivation in painting Hugo Weaving.

David Chalmers

Professor David Chalmers explains his interest in philosophy and introduces some of his theories on the conscious mind.

Shane Maloney and Rick Amor

'Big canvas, small head'

Artist Rick Amor and author Shane Maloney relate divergent experiences of the creation of Shane's portrait.

William Bligh

by John Webber

Sir Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair Magazine

Twice rebelled against, and twice vindicated, William Bligh occupies an ambivalent space in Australian history. Angus Trumble, former Director of the National Portrait Gallery, explains.

Saide, R.Y.S. (Charles Gibson Millar), 1894

Batchelder & Company Photo

Purchased 2015

Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, c. 1870

John Murphy after George Romney

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

The Right Honourable Charles Lord Hawkesbury, Chancellor of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster, 1788

Thomas Atkinson, Samuel Mullen after Henry Weigall Jnr

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

The Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Melbourne (Dr. Charles Perry), 1876

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Suave

Charles Haddon Chambers the Australian-born playboy playwright settled permanently in London in 1880 but never lost his Australian stance when satirising the English.

Madame Carandini, c. 1872

Charles Hewitt, A Marion Son and Co (Paris/London)

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Purchased 2022

La Perouse, from a miniature in the possession of La Perouse's niece at Alby

La Perouse, from a miniature in the possession of La Perouse's niece at Alby, n.d.

Thomas Woolnoth, Charles Knight

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG

'Radical Restraint'

'Poetry, painting and princesses'

The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG interviews the artist who painted his portrait, Ralph Heimans.

Kristin Headlam with Chris Wallace-Crabbe

An interview with Betty Churcher

Artist Kristin Headlam and poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe discuss their art.

'The portraits of Captain Cook'

Betty Churcher describes the creation of the portrait of Captain James Cook in the National Portrait Gallery.

Quentin Bryce

'To change the world'

Australia's 25th Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, discusses her childhood, career paths and her portrait by Michael Zavros.

Marcia Langton, Brook Andrew and Trent Walter

'A big idea'

Sir Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair Magazine

Professor Marcia Langton, artist Brook Andrew and printer Trent Walter discuss the creation of Marcia's portrait.

Small Holdings (The Earl Carrington Baron Charles Robert Carrington), 1907

Carlo Pellegrini, Vanity Fair Magazine

Gift of Ronald Walker 2002

Charlie (Lord Charles Robert Carrington)

Charlie (Lord Charles Robert Carrington), 1874

Purchased 2013

His Royal Highness Prince Henry William Frederick Albert, Duke of Gloucester (Governor General of Australia)

His Royal Highness Prince Henry William Frederick Albert, Duke of Gloucester (Governor General of Australia), 1943-1944

Portrait, coloured chalk with black ink highlight on artist board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Home and away

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2012

Sir William Dobell painted the portraits of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones and Sir Hudson Fysh, who did much to promote the image of Australia in this country and abroad.

Beguiling impressions

Sarah Engledow is seduced by the portraits and the connections between the artists and their subjects in the exhibition Impressions: Painting light and life.

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, 1827

Charles Turner after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Charles Troedel after Robert Wendel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, c. 1890

'Why would you want to listen to pub rock?'

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Dave Graney and Clare Moore

Sir Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair Magazine

Dave Graney and Clare Moore discuss music, photography and bandoleros of meat.

a Traveller (2nd Baron Lamington), 1892

Purchased 2015

Michael Riley's portraits

Unknown artist Publisher Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Linda Burney, Brenda Croft and Darrell Sibosado share memories of Michael Riley and his photographic practice.

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, page 1

Portrait, platinum photograph

Charles Conder, Stella Maris Condor and Florence Humphrey at les Petites Dalles, Normandy

Charles Conder, Stella Maris Condor and Florence Humphrey at les Petites Dalles, Normandy, 1902

H. Walter Barnett

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Sir Charles Court and Richard Court, 2006-2007

Mary Moore

Portrait, oil on composition board

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2006

The Right Honourable William Pitt, 1799

Charles Brome after William Owen

Portrait, line engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Charles and Adam, 1990 (printed 2013)

Michael Riley

Purchased 2013

Charles Perkins with Eileen Perkins, 1964 (printed 2021)

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Bednall 2021

Judith Wright with Barbara Blackman, c. 1956

Portrait, oil on paper laid down on board

Gift of Joanna McNiven 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother)

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother), 1943-1944

Portrait, watercolour on ivory in a gold pendant with a lock of hair and gold thread

Purchased 2019

Richard Windeyer, c. 1828

Charles Richard Bone

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Girl (portrait of Barbara Blackman), 1969

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Purchased 2009

Untitled (portrait of Barbara Blackman), 1976

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Purchased 2009

Elegance in exile

Portrait drawings from colonial Australia

Previous exhibition, 2012

Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.

Australian Aboriginal Cricketers, 1867

Patrick Dawson

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on original lithograph title sheet

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Opening of the First Legislative Council of Victoria by Governor Charles Joseph LaTrobe at St Patrick's Hall, Bourke Street West, Melbourne November 13th 1851, 1883

John Noone after William Strutt

Portrait, photolithograph on paper

Purchased 2013

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, 1882

Portrait, engravings on paper

Purchased 2009

Set of 129 Royal Christmas Cards and three miscellaneous items, 1951-2001

Portrait, offset print (tipped in), letter press (greeting), pen and ink (signature), embossed (royal emblem) on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Patricia Tryon Macdonald 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891 from Australasia Illustrated, 1891

Portrait, engraving on paper (4 sheets)

Purchased 2009

Tim Fairfax, 2018

by Russell Shakespeare

Commissioned with funds provided by The Calvert-Jones Foundation 2018

King Charles I

Gerrit van Honthorst

Prince Charles Edward Stuart

Louis Gabriel Blanchet

Charles, 2015

by Amiel Courtin-Wilson

Winner, DPA 2016

Philanthropy Australia names Tim Fairfax as Australia’s 2021 Leading Philanthropist

24 November 2021

Australian philanthropy’s highest honour, the Leading Philanthropist Award, was awarded to Tim Fairfax AC for his significant and enduring contributions to rural and regional Australia, as well as his passionate support and advocacy for organisations involved in education, arts and culture.

Charles Darwin

John Collier

Charles William Vane-Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry

Sir Thomas Lawrence

Charles Dickens

Daniel Maclise

William Charles Windeyer, c. 1857

Portrait, daguerreotype

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

Annie Edensor Roberts

Charles Warman Roberts married Annie Edensor Marsden (1824-1895) in Sydney in June 1845.

1 portrait in the collection

John O'Gready

John O'Gready (1937-1999) was a photographer for John Fairfax & Sons from the 1960s to the late 1980s and seems to have mainly covered sporting events.

1 portrait in the collection

Eileen Perkins

Eileen Perkins is a descendant of one of Adelaide's prominent German Lutheran families.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir William Charles Windeyer, 1892

Tom Roberts

Gift of the family of Sir Victor and Lady Windeyer 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Charles Windeyer, 1856

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

Portrait, daguerreotype

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

William Charles Wentworth, 1854

Thomas Woolner

Gift of the Simpson family in memory of Caroline Simpson OAM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Charles Windeyer aged six, 1840

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Charles Wentworth -The Australian Patriot

William Charles Wentworth -The Australian Patriot, c. 1870

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Self portrait with Charlie (David Hockney; Charles Dare Scheips)

David Hockney

Extraordinary airmen make aviation history

Passion

Charles is my wingman

Ann Mary Windeyer

Ann Mary Windeyer (née Rudd, c. 1783–1865) arrived in Sydney in 1828 with her husband Charles Windeyer (1780–1855) and nine of their ten children.

1 portrait in the collection

W.A. Bowring

Walter Bowring, born and educated in Auckland, contributed cartoons to the New Zealand observer and The weekly press, exhibited with the Canterbury Society of Arts and studied with Orpen and John in London, where he contributed to Punch, before arriving in Sydney in 1925.

3 portraits in the collection

Annie Roberts, 1878

George Baird Shaw

Portrait, pastel and gouache on paper laid down on backing sheet

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Reg, Lesley, Glen and Paul Thoms 2011

Ann Mary Windeyer, 1847

G Ziegler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Joanna Russell Maher (née Windeyer) 2018

Damien Parer, c. 1939

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

The Photographic Society of Victoria, Melbourne

The Photographic Society of Victoria was formed in 1876 to 'bring photographers together in a friendly spirit, in order to advance the art and science of photography in the colony, without any attempt at binding or dictating to members any special trading rules, such as charges for photographs or hours or days for closing or opening their respective establishments.' At the time of the first annual meeting on 9 March 1877 there were 61 members, five whom were ladies.

1 portrait in the collection

Adam Perkins

Adam Perkins, an Arrernte and Kalkadoon man, is the son of Indigenous rights campaigner and bureaucrat Charles Perkins AO.

1 portrait in the collection

The Capel Family

Cornelius Johnson

Winner, National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012

Rod McNicol

Rod McNicol on photographing Jack Charles.

Ted Maloney, 1955

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

George Andronicus, 1985 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2018

Portrait 7

March - May 2003

Portrait, gouache on paper laid on board

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Grace Cossington Smith, the Fairfax portrait gift and Lewis Morley's photographs.

Portrait of Patrick Ryan, 1971

Fred Williams

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2012

Joshua Smith, c. 1955

Previous exhibition, 2016

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Digital Portraiture Award 2016

An annual event to extend traditional notions of portraiture and foster emerging artists with an interest in new technology.

Lady Natasha Johnston

Natasha Johnston (1914-1984) was born Nataliya Konstantinovna Bagration-Moukhranskya, Princess Natasha Bagration, in Crimea.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Portrait 43

June - August 2012

Previous exhibition, 2022

This issue features Cindy Sherman, Tim Storrier, Brett Whiteley and Patrick White, contemporary Chinese portraiture, Charles Blackman and more.

Time and Line

In Gallery Seven

Encompassing the 1820s to the 2020s, Time and Line showcases the depth and extent of our drawing collection.

Nell Gwyn

Simon Verelst

Portrait, oil on masonite

David Lloyd Jones, 1944

Sir William Dobell OBE

Gift of David Lloyd Jones, in memory of his father, David Lloyd Jones 2021. Donated through Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Chips Rafferty, c. 1945

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Lady Natasha Johnston, 1968

Cecil Beaton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Hugo Vickers 2005

Oliver Cromwell

Robert Walker

Edward Lloyd Jones, c. 1920s

Arthur Murch

Gift of Charles E. Lloyd Jones and Kim Lloyd Jones 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Philip Noyce on the set of 'Heatwave', Sydney

Philip Noyce on the set of 'Heatwave', Sydney, 1981 (printed 2000)

The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

G Ziegler

Previous exhibition, 2012

Very little is known as yet about the artist G Ziegler, who may have been related to the painter Henry Bryan Ziegler.

1 portrait in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012

The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries that reflect the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Beauty and strength

Portraits by Michael Riley

Previous exhibition, 2014

Influential Indigenous Australian artist Michael Riley (1960 - 2004) created these portrait photographs between 1984 and 1990 - they stand as an intricately connected group portrait of the vibrant urban-based Indigenous arts community in Sydney's inner-west at a formative moment.

Joshua Smith, Woolloomooloo, Sydney, 1985 (printed 2000)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Hal Porter, Port Fairy, Victoria, 1969 (printed 2000)

Bruce Dawe, Melbourne, 1969 (printed 2000)

Support your Portrait Gallery

Honour board

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges and thanks all its supporters.

Jean Baptiste Guth

French artist Jean Baptiste Guth was a regular contributor of portraits to Vanity Fair during the late 1880s and throughout the 1890s.

1 portrait in the collection

Tall-ship sailor, Torbay, Devon, c. 1954 (printed 2000)

Gift of the artist 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001.

Peasant woman, the Dolomites, Italy, 1951 (printed 2000)

Battersea Fun Fair, London, c. 1952 (printed 2000)

Bookmakers at race meeting, England, c. 1954 (printed 2000)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001.

Ambrose Hallen, 1941

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Coalmine manager, Burragorang Valley, New South Wales

Coalmine manager, Burragorang Valley, New South Wales, c. 1949 (printed 2000)

Traffic dodgers, Piccadilly Circus, London

Traffic dodgers, Piccadilly Circus, London, c. 1953 (printed 2000)

Surry Hills boy 1, 1948 (printed 2000)

Traffic dodgers, Piccadilly Circus, London, c. 1953 (printed 2000)

Nicholas Hannen and Athene Seyler, London

Nicholas Hannen and Athene Seyler, London, c. 1952 (printed 2000)

Traffic dodgers, Piccadilly Circus, London, c. 1953 (printed 2000)

New Year's Eve, Piccadilly Circus, London

New Year's Eve, Piccadilly Circus, London, c. 1952 (printed 2000)

Miners, Pacific Colliery, Hunter Valley, New South Wales

Miners, Pacific Colliery, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, c. 1949 (printed 2000)

Traffic dodgers, Piccadilly Circus, London, c. 1953 (printed 2000)

Barry Sullivan

Barry Sullivan (1821-1891), English actor, performed on the Melbourne stage between 1862 and 1866.

1 portrait in the collection

Richard Windeyer

Richard Windeyer (1806-1847), journalist, barrister and politician, was the eldest of the ten children born to Charles Windeyer and his wife Ann Mary and remained in England when the rest of his family went to New South Wales.

3 portraits in the collection

Judy, 2012

by Sally Robinson

John Olsen, Woollahra, Sydney, 1962 (printed 2000)

Portrait, montage of gelatin silver photographs

Migrants arriving in Sydney, 1966 (printed 2000)

Lady [Hannah] Lloyd Jones, 1970

Portrait, oil on masonite

Gift of Charles E. Lloyd Jones and Kim Lloyd Jones 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Ron Mueck

More about In the flesh artists

Ron Mueck grew up in Melbourne and began a career in puppetry and special-effects based in the US and then London. In the mid-1990s Charles Saatchi commissioned four major works including Dead dad, which were exhibited in Saatchi’s exhibition ‘Sensation’ at the Royal Academy, London and which travelled to Berlin and Brooklyn.

Tim Riley, Santa Teresa Mission, near Alice Springs

Tim Riley, Santa Teresa Mission, near Alice Springs, 1965 (printed 2000)

Racegoers, Melbourne Cup, 1991 (printed 2000)

Toby Wilson, Murwillumbah, 1966 (printed 2000)

Sugarcane cutter, Murwillumbah, New South Wales

Sugarcane cutter, Murwillumbah, New South Wales, 1966 (printed 2000)

Nelson Mandela, Sydney, 2000

Les Blakebrough, Mittagong, New South Wales

Les Blakebrough, Mittagong, New South Wales, 1962 (printed 2000)

Rolling Stones fans, Sydney, 1965 (printed 2000)

Rudy Komon and Leonard French, Beaumaris, Melbourne

Rudy Komon and Leonard French, Beaumaris, Melbourne, 1967 (printed 2000)

Bar, Betoota races, Queensland, 1961 (printed 2000)

Chris Chataway, White City Stadium, London

Chris Chataway, White City Stadium, London, 1956 (printed 2000)

Laurie Chow, engineer, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney

Laurie Chow, engineer, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney, 1995 (printed 2000)

John Braine, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

John Braine, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire, 1958 (printed 2000)

Nelson Mandela, Sydney, 2000

Anthony Eden, London, 1956 (printed 2000)

Russian oarsmen at Henley Royal Regatta, Oxfordshire

Russian oarsmen at Henley Royal Regatta, Oxfordshire, 1955 (printed 2000)

Matthew Moore with pergola shadows, McMahon's Point, Sydney

Matthew Moore with pergola shadows, McMahon's Point, Sydney, 1978 (printed 2000)

Chris Chataway, White City Stadium, London, 1956 (printed 2000)

Mick Jagger, Sydney, 1965 (printed 2000)

Chelsea Flower Show, London, c. 1956 (printed 2000)

Sydney pedestrian, 1963 (printed 2000)

Georgi Malenkov, Russian Embassy, London

Georgi Malenkov, Russian Embassy, London, 1956 (printed 2000)

Nuns at Lourdes Centenary, France, 1958 (printed 2000)

Dean Dixon, Chatswood, Sydney, 1965 (printed 2000)

Chris Chataway, White City Stadium, London, 1956 (printed 2000)

Mick Jagger, Sydney, 1965 (printed 2000)

Bar Billiards, Lancelin, Western Australia

Bar Billiards, Lancelin, Western Australia, 1963 (printed 2000)

Professor Gilbert Murray, OM, Oxford, c. 1957 (printed 2000)

Kofeinu Matavesi, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney

Kofeinu Matavesi, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney, 1994 (printed 2000)

Priest at Lourdes Centenary, France, 1958 (printed 2000)

Len Howard, Surrey, 1957 (printed 2000)

André Kertész, New York, USA, 1975 (printed 2000)

Baseball fans, Yankee Stadium, New York, 1956 (printed 2000)

Mick Jagger, Sydney, 1965 (printed 2000)

Cray fishermen, Lancelin, Western Australia

Cray fishermen, Lancelin, Western Australia, 1963 (printed 2000)

Lord Goddard, White City Stadium, London

Lord Goddard, White City Stadium, London, c. 1957 (printed 2000)

Henry Figueira, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney

Henry Figueira, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney, 1995 (printed 2000)

John Foster Dulles, Washington, 1956 (printed 2000)

Henry Moore, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, c. 1955 (printed 2000)

Nelson Mandela, Sydney, 2000

Averell Harriman, New York State, 1956 (printed 2000)

Dublin Horse Show spectators, 1956 (printed 2000)

Mick Jagger, Sydney, 1965 (printed 2000)

Pitjantjatjara schoolboy, Ernabella, South Australia

Pitjantjatjara schoolboy, Ernabella, South Australia, 1963 (printed 2000)

Chris Chataway, White City Stadium, London, 1956 (printed 2000)

Ivan Carapina, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney

Ivan Carapina, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney, 1995 (printed 2000)

Colin McCahon, Auckland, New Zealand, 1963 (printed 2000)

Mary McCarthy, New York, 1956 (printed 2000)

Mick Scully, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney

Mick Scully, Glebe Island Bridge, Sydney, 1995 (printed 2000)

Freeman Brothers after Edwin Dalton

Portrait stories

Publications

A selection of audiovisual stories about the artists and subjects in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Maria Windeyer, c. 1865-1868

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on brown paper studio folder

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Ralph Heimans

Portraiture. Power. Influence.

Current exhibition

The exhibition will feature some of the most significant portraits in the artist’s career to date, from early major works such as his painting of HM Queen Mary of Denmark through to his most recent.

The press conference, 2010

by Jeremy Thompson

Nora Heysen

'This peaceful spot'

Australian artist, Nora Heysen, discusses her childhood and the development of her career.

Alex Ellinghausen

Alex Ellinghausen (b. 1982) is an editorial photographer with Fairfax Media.

1 portrait in the collection

Chicka Dixon, 1980

Juno Gemes

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Chicka Dixon

Charles ‘Chicka’ Dixon (1928–2010), Yuin Elder, Aboriginal rights activist and social pioneer, was born at Wallaga Lake on the New South Wales south coast.

1 portrait in the collection

Nancy Bird Walton, c. 1973

Gift of Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Fred Hilmer AO

Archived media releases 2016

Fred Hilmer AO (b. 1945), economic policy and reform strategist, was the chief executive officer of John Fairfax Holdings from 1998 to 2005 and vice- chancellor of the University of New South Wales from 2006 to 2015.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles (still from video) by Amiel Courtin-Wilson

The Winner of the Digital Portraiture Award 2016 is...

2 December 2016

The winner of the Digital Portraiture Award 2016 has been announced. Congratulations to Amiel Courtin-Wilson for his submission titled Charles.

Portrait 64

Summer 2019/20

Marian Anderson, emerging photographer Charles Dennington, piscatorial portraits, and the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou and more.

Ben Chifley, n.d.

A folio of British street portraits 1824–1844

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Fred Hilmer, 2018

Evert Ploeg

Portrait, oil on linen

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Copeman, gardener, Great Yarmouth by John Dempsey

Dempsey's people

Previous exhibition, 2017

Dempsey’s people: a folio of British street portraits 1824–1844 is the first exhibition to showcase the compelling watercolour images of English street people made by the itinerant English painter John Dempsey throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.

Jon Molvig

Helge Jon Molvig was born and grew up in Newcastle, where he left school at thirteen and worked in a garage and at the steelworks.

6 portraits in the collection

Professor Frank Fenner

'A White Shirt'

Previous exhibition, 2015

An interview with Professor Frank Fenner who describes his life and the creation of his portrait.

Life and time

Portraits by Rod McNicol

Australian photographer Rod McNicol has consistently analysed the passing of time through the evidence of the photographic portrait. At once confronting and tender, McNicol’s portrait photographs are bold and intimate.

Alana Landsberry

Alana Landsberry (b. 1982) is a Sydney-based professional photographer who specialises in portrait, lifestyle, beauty and fashion photography.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert Menzies, Lancaster House, London, 1956 (printed 2000)

Andrew Mezei

'From Earth to Sky'

Artist Andrew Mezei talks about his art practice and the process behind his portrait of Professor Penny Sackett.

Sidney Nolan, Western Australia, 1962 (printed 2000)

William Owen

William Owen moved to London from his native Shropshire in 1786 and was apprenticed for seven years to the coach-painter Charles Catton.

1 portrait in the collection

Quentin Jones

Over the past 18 years Quentin Jones has worked on most Fairfax mastheads, including The Good Weekend and The Sydney Magazine.

2 portraits in the collection

Penny Sackett and Andrew Mezei

From Earth to Sky

Professor Penny Sackett and artist Andrew Mezei describe the process behind making the portrait.

Jessica Hromas

Previous exhibition, 2011

Jessica Hromas is a Sydney-based freelance photographer specialising in portraiture, corporate photography, photojournalism and arts coverage.

2 portraits in the collection

Tea time, c.1898–1902 by Rupert Bunny (1864–1947)

Impressions

Painting light and life

Impressions: Painting light and life presents portraits by, and of, artists at the heart of Australian impressionism including Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin.

Gilbert Eric Douglas

Gilbert Eric Douglas (1902–1970), pilot and air force officer, took part in Sir Douglas Mawson’s British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE), which took the form of two ocean voyages conducted over the southern summers of 1929–30 and 1930–31.

1 portrait in the collection

David Warren

Archived media releases 2015

David Warren graduated from RMIT in 1964, after which he taught for some twenty years at the Prahran School of Art, RMIT and Ballarat CAE.

1 portrait in the collection

Foundation members announced

18 May 2015

The newly-established National Portrait Gallery Foundation met for its inaugural meeting last Friday 15 May in Canberra.

Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown (detail), 2006 (printed 2020) © Peter Brew-Bevan

Australian Love stories

Family, friends, fanatics and foes (and everything in between!)

Previous exhibition, 2021

Reconnect and reflect with our new major exhibition, Australian Love Stories (in real life!) as we explore love, affection and connection in all its guises.

Decorative portrait – Len Lye, c.1925 by Rayner Hoff (1894-1937)

Presence and Absence

Portrait Sculpture in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2003

This exhibition focuses on exploring national and communal identity through sculptural production in Australia, from the early decades of settlement through to the present day

Linda Burney MLA Canturbury and Rick Farley at home, Marrickville

Hon. Linda Jean Burney

Photographic Portraiture in Australia

The Hon. Linda Jean Burney MP (b. 1957), a Wiradjuri woman, is the first First Nations person elected to the New South Wales parliament, and the first First Nations woman to serve in the federal House of Representatives.

2 portraits in the collection

Mirror With A Memory

Previous exhibition, 2000

This is the first major exhibition to examine photographic portraiture in Australia, from its beginnings in the early 1840s to the present day

Maria Windeyer

Maria Windeyer (née Camfield, 1795–1878), landowner, emigrated to New South Wales in 1835 with her husband Richard, a barrister, and their infant son, William Charles.

2 portraits in the collection

Russell Drysdale, c. 1945

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Thomas Heathfield Carrick

Thomas Heathfield Carrick, miniature painter, grew up in Carlisle, where he trained and traded as a chemist, painting miniatures in his spare time.

1 portrait in the collection

Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE

Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE (1915–2009), aviatrix, decided she wanted to be a pilot when, at age eight, she saw a plane make an emergency landing on a beach near her home.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir Ian McLennan, c. 1978

Portrait, oil on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of BHP Billiton 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

François Bonneville

François Bonneville was one of the leading French engravers of the period of the Revolution, selling his works at the Imprimérie du Cercle Social on the Rue du Théâtre-Francais until 1797, and then, until 1814, at successive premises on the Rue Saint Jacques.

2 portraits in the collection

London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company

The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company was founded in 1854 by George Swan Nottage.

2 portraits in the collection

Penny Sackett

From Earth to Sky

Professor Penny Sackett, Australian National University and former Chief Scientist for Australia (2008-2011) talks about her life in science.

Patricia 'Bambi' Tuckwell (Shmith), c. 1952

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Sir Eric Neal AC CVO

Sir Eric Neal trained as an engineer at the South Australian School of Mines.

1 portrait in the collection

Reutlinger Studios

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2009

The Reutlinger Studios operated in Paris from 1850 to 1937, under the direction of Charles, Emile and Leopold Reutlinger respectively.

1 portrait in the collection

In the round

Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.

Molly Meldrum

Ian 'Molly' Meldrum AM (b. 1946) has a long history of involvement and influence in the Australian rock music industry.

1 portrait in the collection

Falk Studios

Falk Studios was established by Melbourne-born photographer H. Walter Barnett in George Street, Sydney in 1885.

5 portraits in the collection

Mary Moore

Mary Moore (b. 1957) is a West Australian portrait artist. She began formal art training in Claremont at the age of fifteen, later attending the Western Australian Institute of Technology and Royal College of Art, London.

4 portraits in the collection

Portrait 54

Spring 2016

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Explore an Indian treasure trove, photography by Robert McFarlane and Nan Goldin, Michael Taylor's expressionist paintings, the Great War portraits, and more!

Four from the 30s

Australia's tradition of sculpted portraits stretches back to the early decades of the nineteenth century and continues to sustain a group of dedicated sculptors.

Trumble and Borthwick families (Mum front right, Angus smallest), ca. 1968

Humdinger

At a meeting by teleconference of the National Portrait Gallery Foundation last week, I found myself reporting that our forthcoming exhibition So Fine is going to be “a humdinger,” whereupon Tim Fairfax chuckled and said that he hadn’t heard that expression for years.

Lyall Trindall

A Ninetieth Birthday Tribute

Gordon Lyall Trindall (1886–1965), painter, gave up his Marrickville barbering business at the age of 26 to become an artist.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir William Dargie

Previous exhibition, 2002

As a tribute to Sir William Dargie's singular contribution to Australian art and cultural institutions, and on the occasion of his birthday, The Australian War Memorial, Parliament House and the National Portrait Gallery will mount exhibitions of his work between May and October

Angus Trumble with Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks by Thomas Phillips

Banksia and grevillea

Portraits can render honour to remarkable men and women, but there are other ways.

Kristin Headlam

Kristin Headlam, born in Launceston, completed a BA at the University of Melbourne in the 1970s and studied painting at the Victorian College of the Arts in 1980-1981.

2 portraits in the collection

Francis Lymburner, c. 1946

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Tom Hughes AO KC

Hon Thomas Hughes AO KC (b. 1923), lawyer and former politician, was born in Sydney and educated at Riverview before serving in the RAAF during World War 2.

3 portraits in the collection

Portrait stories

The National Portrait Gallery interviewed the 20/20 artists and subjects throughout the commissioning journey. Browse these Portrait Stories to get insights into the incredible achievements of the subjects and the creation of their portraits.

Livingston Hopkins

Previous exhibition, 2006

Livingston Hopkins, cartoonist, was born in Ohio and fought in the American Civil War before beginning his cartooning career in New York.

3 portraits in the collection

Portraits for Posterity

Drawn from some of the many donations made to the Gallery's collection, the exhibition Portraits for Posterity pays homage both to the remarkable (and varied) group of Australians who are portrayed in the portraits and the generosity of the many donors who have presented them to the Gallery.

Li Cunxin, 2017–2018

by Jun Chen

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

Damien Parer

Damien Parer (1912-1944), photographer and filmmaker, became friends with Max Dupain in the thirties, often taking photographs with him on excursions to the beach and bush.

2 portraits in the collection

Ursula Hoff AO OBE

Portrait, pastel on paper

Ursula Hoff AO OBE (1909–2005) was a curator, art historian and academic.

1 portrait in the collection

The Brougham

Beards

A philosopher-style of beard – thick and lengthy; a greyer, hence wiser version of the Burke; and suited to older men who saw themselves as sagacious or statesmanlike.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)

9 September 2022

Media

The National Portrait Gallery is deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Throughout her 70-year reign, Her Majesty represented graciousness, humanity and stability during times of enormous social change.

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers)

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers), 1896

David Davies

Purchased 2009

Peter Russell-Clarke

Peter Russell-Clarke, cook, started his career as a freelance cartoonist, working for advertising agencies in Australia and overseas.

1 portrait in the collection

The Lambert

Beards

Barbering manuals of the turn of the century might describe this style as a ‘Van Dyck’, named after the Dutch painter Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) who is known to have adopted this look.

Gordon Andrews, Lovett Bay, Sydney, 1987 (printed 2000)

The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Captain James King

Previous exhibition, 2003

James King (c. 1750-1784), naval officer, was born in Lancashire and educated at Clitheroe Grammar School before entering the navy in 1762.

1 portrait in the collection

Max Dupain

The Vintage Years

During his long and distinguished career Max Dupain took thousands of photographs of people

Hal Hattam

Harold 'Hal' Hattam (1913-1994), doctor, artist and art collector, came to Australia from his native Scotland at the age of seven.

1 portrait in the collection

H B. Hall

Henry Bryan Hall grew up in England and began his trade as an apprentice to the engravers Benjamin Smith and Henry Meyer.

1 portrait in the collection

Colin Wills

Colin Wills (1906–1965), journalist and author, was born in Toowoomba, Queensland and grew up in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Eric Douglas, c. 1930

Frank Hurley OBE

Gift of Sally Douglas 2009

Hon. William McLellan

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2001

William McLellan (1831–1906), miner and parliamentarian, served on the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1859 to 1877, and again between 1883 and 1897.

1 portrait in the collection

A Captured Moment

The acquisition of David Moore's archive of portrait photographs for the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Errol Flynn

Errol Flynn (1909-1959), actor, was born in Hobart, where his father was a biology lecturer, and spent his childhood in Tasmania, England and Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Nic Walker

Nic Walker spent his early years in Cairo and Beijing with his father Tony Walker, a foreign correspondent.

1 portrait in the collection

Clem Seale and Robert Emerson Curtis, c. 1944

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Lloyd Rees at 90, Northwood, Sydney, 1985 (printed 2000)

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

In the galleries

Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.

James Moorhouse

James Moorhouse (1826-1915), Anglican bishop, had an exceptionally distinguished career and publication record before he came from England to Melbourne to succeed Charles Perry.

1 portrait in the collection

Livingston Hopkins, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Ursula Hoff, 1994

Francis Reiss

Purchased 2004

Robert Klippel, Birchgrove, Sydney, 1969 (printed 2000)

Hudson Fysh, c. 1950

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Tom Roberts, 1920

Alice Mills

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on cardboard

Gift of Gerard Vaughan 2001

Self portrait, 2004

Peter Russell-Clarke

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Self portrait, 1999/2005

Tracey Moffatt

Portrait, black and white photograph, pen, and hand coloured photograph on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AM 2013

Patrick White at Centennial Park, 1979–1980

White Whiteley

The portrait of Patrick White by Brett Whiteley

Previous exhibition, 2012

Eleven works by Brett Whiteley, centred around his scintillating 'Patrick White at Centennial Park 1979-1980'.

Self portrait, 1894

Livingston Hopkins

Portrait, etching on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Dame Mary Gilmore, 1961

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Sir William Dargie CBE

Sir William Dargie, painter and eight times winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture, died in Melbourne on July 26, 2003, aged 91.

Patrick White, 1987

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

David Potts reflected in a magazine page

David Potts reflected in a magazine page, c. 1949 (printed 2000)

Russell Drysdale, Woollahra, Sydney, 1964 (printed 2000)

George Johnston, Fleet Street, London, c. 1952 (printed 2000)

Russell Drysdale, Tallow Beach, New South Wales

Russell Drysdale, Tallow Beach, New South Wales, 1969 (printed 2000)

Barry Sullivan, c. 1863

Davies & Co

Purchased 2018

Eugene Goossens, c. 1954

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Portrait, drypoint on wove paper

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl Liverpool, Lord Hawkesbury (1770–1828), statesman, was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827.

2 portraits in the collection

Alison Alder

Artists and Collectives

One of Australia’s preeminent printmakers, Alison Alder explores social and political issues through her art practice from her studio in Mongarlowe on Yuin Country.

Andrew Southall, 1992

Rick Amor

Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Literary lovers’ life liaison

Lust

Desire drives forbidden love

Damien Parer, 1937

Portrait, oil on masonite

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Hal Hattam, 1960

Fred Williams

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Hattam family in memory of Hal and Kate Hattam 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

A Goldfields Member "The Dove of Ararat" [The Hon. William McLellan M.L.A], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Mabel Forrest

Mabel Forrest (née Mills, 1872–1935), writer, was born near Yandilla on the Darling Downs and grew up on various cattle stations in the district, publishing her first poem at age ten.

1 portrait in the collection

New Australians bring creative wealth

Nearest & Dearest

Melbourne’s iconic culture-shapers

William Mora

William Mora (1953–2023), art dealer and gallerist, was the eldest son of artist Mirka Mora and restauranteur and gallery owner Georges Mora.

1 portrait in the collection

David Davies

David Davies began studying art at the School of Mines and Industries in his birthplace, Ballarat.

1 portrait in the collection

George and Jemima Billet with family, c. 1852

C.H.T. Costantini

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on card

Purchased 2016

Ada Crossley, c. 1900

Rotary Photo Company Ltd

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Roger Neill 2009

Study for "Barry Humphries in the character of Mrs Everage", 1969

John Brack

Portrait, pencil on paper

Gift of Timothy Fairfax AC 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Matthew Burnett, c. 1865

Henry Samuel Sadd

Portrait, steel engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and King James II

Sir Peter Lely

Robert McFarlane

Robert McFarlane (1942–2023), photographer, was born in Glenelg, South Australia.

31 portraits in the collection

Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron was of the most important photographers of the nineteenth century.

1 portrait in the collection

Mungo MacCallum

Mungo MacCallum (1941–2020) was one of Australia's best-known political journalists.

1 portrait in the collection

Fanny Jane Marlay, c. 1841

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Purchased 2013

Frances Perry

Frances Perry (1815-1892) met Charles Perry through her brother, a student at Cambridge, and after they married, the couple lived at St Paul’s Cambridge, where he was vicar, for six years.

1 portrait in the collection

H. Walter Barnett

Portrait, platinum photograph on printed card

H. Walter Barnett (1862-1934) was a leading portrait photographer of the late Victorian, Edwardian and interwar periods.

12 portraits in the collection

Arthur Streeton, Nora Streeton (nee Clench) and Pat, the dog

Arthur Streeton, Nora Streeton (nee Clench) and Pat, the dog, c. 1909

H. Walter Barnett

Purchased 2001

Professor A D Hope, Canberra, 1963 (printed 2000)

Magazine article by Barbara Blackman AO, 2003

All in the Family

In 2000, Barbara Blackman donated a portrait of her close friends - poet Judith Wright, her husband Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith - painted by Charles Blackman.

Archbishop James Goold, c. 1870

Archibald McDonald

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Judy Davis on the set of 'Heatwave', Sydney

Judy Davis on the set of 'Heatwave', Sydney, 1981 (printed 2000)

Barbara Blackman, c. 1953

Gift of Barbara Blackman 2004

Max Dupain, Artamon, Sydney, 1979 (printed 2000)

Archived media releases 2018

The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

A free family festival to celebrate spring and Children’s Week

24 October 2018

Wake from your winter hibernation to celebrate Children’s Week and Canberra’s spring season at the National Portrait Gallery’s free Spring Festival.

Arthur Streeton, c. 1890

H. Walter Barnett

Portrait, platinum photograph on original studio backing card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Yvonne Audette, Vaucluse, Sydney, 1968 (printed 2000)

Max Meldrum, c. 1937

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Catherine Livingstone, 2018

Mathew Lynn

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

Beadle, Winchester, 1823 by John Dempsey

Beadles, bellmen and bumbles

For Dempsey’s people their occasional encounters with state power would have been largely through the local parish, which administered the ‘Old Poor Law’.

William Dobell, Potts Point, Sydney, 1960 (printed 2000)

Mike Brown

Mike Brown (1938-1997) artist, was a participant (with Ross Crothall and Colin Lanceley) in the 1962 Annandale Imitation Realists exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and Design, Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Madame Melba, 1922

Harold Cazneaux

The Photographic Society of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased 2015

Thomas Pearce, c. 1878

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on card

Purchased 2010

Quentin Bryce, 2016

Michael Zavros

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2016

Janet Dawson, Paddington, Sydney, 1966 (printed 2000)

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

The Tichborne Claimant (Arthur Orton), c. 1872

Maull & Co Photographers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Catherine Livingstone, 2018

by Mathew Lynn

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

Li Cunxin, 2018

Jun Chen

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

Harry Williams

Harry Williams (b. 1951) is a Wiradjuri man and the first Indigenous footballer to represent Australia at international level.

1 portrait in the collection

Arthur Boyd, Bundanon, New South Wales, 1995 (printed 2000)

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM GCSI CB MD FRS (1817-1911), botanist, explorer and medical doctor, visited Australia as a member of James Clark Ross's Antarctic expedition of 1839 to 1843.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert Emerson Curtis, 1943

Portrait, colour transparency on lightbox

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Marilyn Darling AC, 2010

Anne Zahalka

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2010

Francis Russell Nixon, c. 1845-1855

an unknown artist after George Richmond

Portrait, copperplate engraving, heightened with China white on buff paper

Purchased 2009

Darrell Sibosado

Thomas Woolner in Australia

Darrell Sibosado is a Bard man of the Lombadina Community, in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Missing Persons

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

Sir John Hay, 1887

Freeman Brothers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Harry Seidler, Killara, Sydney, 1984 (printed 2000)

The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Rosalie Kunoth, 1953 printed 1958

Purchased 2016

Leonard French, Heathcote, Victoria, 1969 (printed 2000)

Marea Gazzard, Paddington, Sydney, 1963 (printed 2000)

Michael Johnson, McMahon's Point, Sydney

Michael Johnson, McMahon's Point, Sydney, 1969 (printed 2000)

Michael Johnson, McMahon's Point, Sydney, 1969 (printed 2000)

Michael Johnson, McMahon's Point, Sydney, 1969 (printed 2000)

Michael Johnson, McMahon's Point, Sydney, 1969 (printed 2000)

Michael Johnson, McMahon's Point, Sydney, 1969 (printed 2000)

Michael Johnson, McMahon's Point, Sydney, 1969 (printed 2000)

Robert Menzies, Sydney, 1963 (printed 2000)

William - Aspendale, 1966 (printed 2015)

Lazar Krum

Gift of the artist 2015

Francois Peron

Jean Coutant after Jacques Etienne Victor Arago

François Péron (1775-1810), naturalist and explorer, served as a soldier from 1792 to 1794, in which period he was imprisoned and lost the sight of one eye.

6 portraits in the collection

Nlle. Holland Port Jackson: Sauvages des environs de Sydney: Nani, Taran, Abinghou, Broten, Timbere

Nlle. Holland Port Jackson: Sauvages des environs de Sydney: Nani, Taran, Abinghou, Broten, Timbere, 1825

Portrait, line engraving on paper

Purchased 2015

In the most correct style

Nearest & Dearest

Desirable outcomes, undesirable origins

Patrick White, Castle Hill, Sydney, 1963 (printed 2000)

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Senator Bonner, 1990

Robert Campbell Jnr

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2008

Self portrait, 2006

Portrait, oil on board

Gift of Dr Phillip Dutton and Valerie Dutton 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Thea Anamara Perkins

Thea Anamara Perkins (b. 1992) is an Arrernte/Kalkadoon artist whose practice incorporates portraiture and landscape to depict authentic representations of First Nations peoples and Country.

1 portrait in the collection

Jane Windeyer

Jane Windeyer (1865–1950) was the second eldest daughter of politician and judge Sir William Charles Windeyer (1834–1897) and his wife, Mary (née Bolton, 1837–1912), a leading campaigner for women’s rights.

2 portraits in the collection

Russell Drysdale and Peter Sculthorpe, Tallow Beach, New South Wales

Russell Drysdale and Peter Sculthorpe, Tallow Beach, New South Wales, 1969 (printed 2000)

Portraits in the Landscape

Open Air

Previous exhibition, 2008

Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.

Jacques Arago, c. 1830s

Nicolas Maurin, Alexandre Sixdeniers

Portrait, pastel on paper

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Sir John Eccles, 1959

Pam MacFarlane

Gift of an anonymous donor 2007

Michael with beetroot sprouting, 2008

Janet Dawson

Portrait, pastel on paper

Purchased 2015

Captain John Lort Stokes, c. 1841

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Captain James King, engraving after Webber, 1784

Francesco Bartolozzi after John Webber

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

President Johnson and Prime Minister Holt at Canberra Airport

President Johnson and Prime Minister Holt at Canberra Airport, 1966 (printed 2000)

Wenten Rubuntja AM

Wenten Rubuntja AM (1923–2005) was an Arrernte law man, committee and board member, artist, historian, storyteller and intermediary.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert Manne AO

Robert Manne (b. 1947), academic and writer, grew up in Melbourne, the child of European Jewish refugees.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Richard Owens

Sir Richard Owen (1804–1892), naturalist, anatomist and palaeontologist, was born in Lancaster and apprenticed to surgeon-apothecaries there before completing his studies in medicine in Edinburgh and London.

1 portrait in the collection

Nancy Bird Walton - Pioneer, 2003

Danelle Bergstrom

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004

Helena Rubinstein in a red brocade Balenciaga gown

Helena Rubinstein in a red brocade Balenciaga gown, 1957

Graham Sutherland

Portrait, conté crayon on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC and the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2015

Self portrait, c. 1948

John Brack

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2010

Maria Polly Cutmore, 2021

Jessica Hromas

Portrait, pigment print on Hahnemühle photorag metallic paper

Purchased 2022

Friendship’s rhyme and reason

Nearest & Dearest

Poetic trio

Colin Madigan and Robert Hughes, Canberra

Colin Madigan and Robert Hughes, Canberra, 1982 (printed 2000)

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America, 1878

A & G Taylor

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Fred Williams, Upwey, Victoria, 1963 (printed 2000)

Portrait 63

Winter 2019

Conrad Westermayr after Jean Henri Cless

Rod McNicol's method and motivation, 19th century Indigenous peoples, Barrie Cassidy on Bob Hawke, five generations of the Kang family from Korea and more.

François Péron, c. 1805

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on studio mount

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Mary Windeyer, c. 1891

Freeman Brothers

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Sir James McCulloch KCMG

Sir James McCulloch KCMG (1819–1893) served four separate terms as premier of Victoria between 1863 and 1877.

1 portrait in the collection

Chips Rafferty MBE

Chips Rafferty MBE (1909–1971), screen actor, was born John Goffage in Broken Hill and nicknamed 'Chips' as a boy.

5 portraits in the collection

Shahleena Musk

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching on canvas

Shahleena Musk is Larrakia lawyer from Darwin. She was the first Aboriginal person to graduate from the Northern Territory University (now Charles Darwin University) and to be admitted to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.

1 portrait in the collection

James Morrison with flugelhorn, 1994

Kerrie Lester

Purchased 1999. Courtesy of the Corrigan family and Stuart Purves.

Gordon Andrews, Cottage Rock, Hawkesbury River, New South Wales

Gordon Andrews, Cottage Rock, Hawkesbury River, New South Wales, 1968 (printed 2000)

Previous exhibition, 2013

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary

The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.

Mark Strizic

A Journey in Photography

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen on paper

This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.

Lord Florey, c. 1966

Louis Kahan AO

Purchased 1998

Walter Gropius and Harry Seidler, 1954

Samuel Bellin after Thomas Heathfield Carrick

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Lord John Russell, 1844

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Shahleena Musk, c. 2000

Penny Tweedie

Gift of the artist 2004

Mary Windeyer on the verandah at Tomago, NSW

Mary Windeyer on the verandah at Tomago, NSW, c. 1880s

Portrait, glass plate negative

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

Barbara Blackman, 2008

Gorgi Dimcevski

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Barbara Blackman 2009

Jane Windeyer, n.d.

Madame Praeger

'Self Portrait with Gladioli'

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

George Lambert

An examination of the life and times of George Lambert through the gesture and pose in his self portrait.

Linda Burney MLA Canturbury and Rick Farley at home, Marrickville, 2003

Juno Gemes

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Lady [Hannah] Lloyd Jones OBE

Hannah Benyon Lloyd Jones OBE (1901–1982) was the third wife of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones, the chairman of David Jones from 1920 until his death in 1958.

3 portraits in the collection

David Gulpilil, Arnhem Land, 1981 (printed 2000)

The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Frederick E. Du Faur

Frederick Eccleston du Faur (1832–1915), environmentalist, public servant and arts patron, came to Australia from his native London in 1853.

1 portrait in the collection

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Judy Cassab AO CBE (1920–2015) was one of Australia's best-loved, most successful and prolific portrait painters.

22 portraits in the collection

Great stylists: Caruso, Melba, Pavarotti, Bonynge and Sutherland

Dame Nellie Melba GBE

Dame Nellie Melba GBE (1861–1931), world-renowned soprano, was born Helen Porter Mitchell in Melbourne.

8 portraits in the collection

Barbara Blackman AO

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

Barbara Blackman AO (b. 1928), writer, poet and arts patron, was only fifteen when the ABC Weekly published one of her poems.

5 portraits in the collection

Mrs Cameron and the V&A

In March 2003 Magda Keaney travelled to London to join the photography section of the Victoria & Albert Museum for three months.

A Victorian Knight "Thrice Chief Secretary" [Sir James McCulloch K.C.M.G.], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Wenten Rubuntja, 1998

Greg Weight

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Wenten Rubuntja, 2001

Greg Weight

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Semi self portrait, Hunter Valley, 1992 (printed 2000)

David Moore, Corio, Victoria, 1942 (printed 2000)

James Alipius Goold

James Alipius Goold (1812-1886), first Catholic bishop and archbishop of Melbourne, volunteered for service in New South Wales having studied in Rome and Perugia.

2 portraits in the collection

Wes Stacey, Kurnell, Sydney, 1973 (printed 2000)

Icons Syndicate

Lists alphabetically

Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007

Hall of Mirrors

Previous exhibition, 2007

Hall of Mirrors: Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007 explores the thread of portraiture through the artist's prolific career, now spanning more than 20 years.

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Stephen Edward Nixon

Purchased 2018

Hetti Perkins

Hetti Perkins (b. 1965), Arrernte and Kalkadoon curator, cultural adviser, writer and activist, began her career at the Sydney gallery of Aboriginal Arts Australia before joining the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative as a curator.

1 portrait in the collection

Aden Ridgeway & pallbearers entering Sydney Town Hall, State Funeral for Kwementyaye Perkins AO, 25th October 2000

Aden Ridgeway & pallbearers entering Sydney Town Hall, State Funeral for Kwementyaye Perkins AO, 25th October 2000, 2000

Mervyn Bishop

Purchased 2001

Kyle Vander-Kuyp

Previous exhibition, 2005

Kyle Vander-Kuyp (b. 1971) is a Worimi and Yuin man and Australia's greatest ever 110 m hurdler.

2 portraits in the collection

The World of Thea Proctor

The World of Thea Proctor is the Portrait Gallery's second major biographical exhibition - that is, the second exhibition to focus exclusively on the life and work of a single individual

Eleanor Dark, c. 1935 (printed 1940)

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Mungo MacCallum, press gallery cricket, 1973

Frank Hinder

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Enid Hawkins 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Mary Windeyer, 1850s

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on ivory

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Donors

$10,000 - $49,999

The Huxleys

Will Huxley grew up in the suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, and Garrett Huxley was raised on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

3 portraits in the collection

Aboriginal couple, Finniss Springs Mission, South Australia

Aboriginal couple, Finniss Springs Mission, South Australia, 1959 (printed 2000)

Mary Windeyer

Carlo Pellegrini, Vanity Fair Magazine

Mary Windeyer (née Bolton, 1837-1912), women's rights campaigner, was one of the nine children of Robert Thorley Bolton, a clergyman who emigrated to New South Wales in 1839.

3 portraits in the collection

Men of the Day No.19 "A great Med'cine-Man among the Inqui-ring Redskins" (Thomas Henry Huxley), 1871

Purchased 2015

Norman Lindsay, 1936

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Ken Wyatt, 2019 (printed 2020)

Alex Ellinghausen

Purchased 2022

Joseph Dalton Hooker, c. 1880s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Jack Thompson AM

Jack Thompson AM (b. 1940) is an actor and the face of the 1970s Australian film renaissance.

3 portraits in the collection

Fred Hilmer, 2018

by Evert Ploeg

Previous exhibition, 2023

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.

The 1850s to the 1880s

Mo and beard timeline

The restrained and cultivated facial hair fashions evident through the first decades of the 1800s were on the wane by the middle of the century, when hirsute faces became mainstream.

Harry Williams, 2005

Sahlan Hayes

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on resin-coated paper

Purchased 2006

Australian of the Year

Inspiring a Nation

Previous exhibition, 2010

The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.

The aviatrix

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Joanna Gilmour explores the extraordinary life of Australian female aviator Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE

Brian Croser AO, 1998

Kate Gollings

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001

Sir John Hay

Sir John Hay (1816-1892), pastoralist and politician, graduated in law in his native Scotland before emigrating to New South Wales with his new wife, Mary, in 1838.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Nellie Melba,

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007

Garrett Huxley

Garrett Huxley (b. 1973) was born in Melbourne and raised on the Gold Coast.

3 portraits in the collection

Will Huxley

Previous exhibition, 2019

Will Huxley (b. 1982) was born in Bath, England, emigrating with his family at the age of seven to grow up in the suburbs of Perth.

3 portraits in the collection

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.

Rod McNicol

18 June 2015

Archived media releases 2015

John David Armstrong

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

John David Armstrong (1857–1943) was a sideshow and vaudeville performer known as ‘The Australian Tom Thumb’.

2 portraits in the collection

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Previous exhibition, 2010

'I have just been to my dressing case to take a peep at you.

Paul Gaimard

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

Paul Gaimard (1796-1858), naturalist and naval surgeon, joined the French navy after distinguishing himself at the naval medical school at Toulon.

1 portrait in the collection

Bungaree, late chief of the Broken Bay tribe, Sydney

Heads of the People

Previous exhibition, 2000

For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history

Gary Heery

Gary Heery, photographer, was born in Sydney, where he studied sociology and psychology at the University of New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Stan Grant

Stan Grant (b. 1963), a proud Wiradjuri man born in Griffith, New South Wales, grew up wanting to be a journalist.

1 portrait in the collection

Supporters

$5,000 - $9,999

Nicolas-Martin Petit after Barthélemy Roger

Cour-rou-bari-gal, 1807

Portrait, engraving, hand coloured on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Nicolas-Martin Petit

Nicholas-Martin Petit was born in Paris, the son of a fan maker, and learned graphic art in the studio of Jacques Louis David.

9 portraits in the collection

Gamaliel Butler

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2015

Gamaliel Butler (1783–1852), lawyer and free settler, emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1824 with his wife, Sarah (née Paine, 1787–1870).

2 portraits in the collection

The Wentworths – Hidden in Plain Sight

Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.

Martha Sarah Butler, c. 1845

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Portrait, watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper

Purchased 2009

Janet Dawson

Chefs, winemakers, providores

Janet Dawson (b. 1935), painter, printer, teacher and stage designer, is known for her contribution to abstract art in Australia.

10 portraits in the collection

Masters of Fare

George Beldam, Sun Electric Engraving Company

Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores celebrates men and women who have championed the unique culinary characteristics and produce of Australia, enriching our lives with new ideas and new flavours over the past forty years.

Victor Trumper, 1905

Portrait, photogravure on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

William Birdwood KCMG KCSI KCB DSO

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

William Birdwood KCMG KCSI KCB DSO, 1st Baron Birdwood of Anzac and Totnes (1865-1951) commanded the Australian Corps for much of the First World War.

1 portrait in the collection

Uncommon Australians

Previous exhibition, 2015

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

Self portrait, c. 1911

Frank Hurley OBE

Purchased 2005

Ralph Sutton

Ralph Sutton (1908-1967), Methodist minister, trained in Sydney, was ordained in 1935 and began his career in Mosman Methodist Church.

1 portrait in the collection

Tim Winton, 2004

Quentin Jones

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Ed Murrow, New York, 1956 (printed 2000)

Barry Tuckwell AC OBE

Barry Tuckwell AC OBE (1931-2020), horn soloist, conductor, teacher and author spent his early years in Melbourne, where he learned a variety of instruments including piano and violin.

1 portrait in the collection

George Perry

Percy Leason's Aboriginal Portraits

George William Perry (1824–1900) was born in London and arrived in Victoria via South Africa around 1852.

2 portraits in the collection

William Johnson (1873—1948) by Percy Leason

Recognition

Previous exhibition, 1999

Originally conceived as an anthropological record, Percy Leason’s powerful 1934 portraits of Victorian Aboriginal people are today considered to be a highlight of 20th century Australian portraiture

Reg Livermore, Pitt Street, Sydney, 1965 (printed 2020)

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2003

Purchased 2020

All you can eat

In February 2003 the National Portrait Gallery Circle of Friends brought Sir Robert Strong to Australia to present a series of lectures entitled The Artists & The Banquet- A History of Dining, which focused on the links between gardens and table decoration from the Renaissance to the Victorian Era.

Sir Ian Potter, 1973

Portrait, oil on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lady Primrose Potter 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Rod McNicol

Rod McNicol (b. 1946), photographic artist, studied photography at Prahran College in Melbourne, where he formed a close friendship with Athol Shmith.

1 portrait in the collection

Sketch for portrait of Justin O'Brien, 1980

Portrait, oil with fibre-tipped pen underdrawing on composition board

Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002

David Lloyd Jones

David Lloyd Jones (1931–1961) was the great-grandson of the original David Jones – who founded the eponymous department store in Sydney in 1838 – and the eldest son of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones (1878–1958), who was chairman of David Jones Ltd from 1920 until his death.

1 portrait in the collection

John Gould

John Gould (1804–1881) is known as the ‘father of Australian ornithology’ for his Birds of Australia, published in seven volumes between 1840 and 1848.

1 portrait in the collection

Julian Meagher

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Julian Meagher was born in Sydney in 1978 and studied part time at the Julian Ashton Art School before undertaking a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery at the University of New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Sideshow Alley

Previous exhibition, 2015

Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.

Tom Roberts

Tom Roberts (1856–1931), artist, came to Australia from England at the age of 13, but returned eight years later to study art in London.

9 portraits in the collection

John Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell KG GCMG PC (1792 –1878) was Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1839 to 1841 and served twice as Prime Minister of Great Britain, in 1846-1852 and 1865-1866.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Henry Huxley

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) travelled to Australia as a member of the expedition conducted by Owen Stanley on the Rattlesnake between 1846 and 1850.

2 portraits in the collection

First Ladies

Previous exhibition, 2013

First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.

Jane Mander Jones, 1853

Henry Robinson Smith

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

David Jones, 1853

Henry Robinson Smith

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020

Previous exhibition, 2020

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Ron Mueck

Portrait, Laser-cut vinyl and computer print on aluminium composite sheet, painted custom-wood frame

Ron Mueck (b. 1958), sculptor, first attracted widespread attention in 1997, when his poignant work Dead Dad was featured in the landmark exhibition Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection at the Royal Academy, London and subsequently shown in Berlin and New York.

1 portrait in the collection

Automatic for the people: Casey Stoner, 2008

Scott Redford

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2008

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa, c. 1847

an unknown artist, Thomas Wharton

Portrait, daguerreotype in a pinchbeck case

Purchased 2001

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009

Previous exhibition, 2009

In its second year at the National Portrait Gallery, and for the first time touring to other venues, the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 continues to present surprising perspectives on the nature of contemporary portrait photography.

Frank Fenner AC CMG MBE, 2007

Jude Rae

Commissioned with funds provided by Mr Anthony Adair and Ms Karen MacLeod 2007

First Australian first-class cricket team

The ‘first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America’ was in fact the second Australian cricket side to contest matches internationally (a team of Indigenous players having done so in 1868), but it is considered the first official national representative team to tour overseas.

1 portrait in the collection

Lady [Hannah] Lloyd Jones, c. 1930

E.O. Hoppé

Previous exhibition, 2006

Purchased 2013

Australian Visit

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

Hon Tom Hughes KC, 2001

Jiawei Shen

Commissioned with funds provided by Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull 2003

Ethel Marian (Maie) Casey AC

Previous exhibition, 2005

Ethel Marian (Maie) Casey AC, Baroness Casey (1892-1983), chatelaine, artist, pilot and author, was born in Melbourne, the daughter of the Surgeon General, Sir Charles Ryan.

1 portrait in the collection

Glossy 2

Faces, Magazines, Now

Following the success of Glossy: Faces, Magazines, Now in 1999 the National Portrait Gallery again highlights the huge array of contemporary portraiture in the pages of magazines.

Dr Helen Caldicott

Dr Helen Caldicott (b. 1938), physician, author and activist, was born Helen Broinowski in Melbourne and gained her degree in Medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1961.

1 portrait in the collection

Remembering Ursula

John Cochran after Sir Thomas Lawrence

I first knew Dr. Hoff when in 1986, long after retiring from the National Gallery of Victoria, she taught a graduate seminar on Rembrandt.

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c.

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c., 1838

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Barry Tuckwell, 1991

June Mendoza

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Tuckwell 2018

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (1794-1847) is one of the most intriguing and talented figures in colonial Australian art.

4 portraits in the collection

Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM

Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM (1937-2022), Arrernte and Anmatjere woman, Aboriginal activist, former actress and nun, was born at Artekerre soak on Utopia Cattle Station in the Northern Territory, the daughter of Allan and Ruby Kunoth.

2 portraits in the collection

Margaret Robertson, c. 1863

Archived media releases 2017

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Billy the match man, Liverpool, 1844 by John Dempsey

Rare Set of Watercolour Paintings on Display for the First Time

15 June 2017

A rare and enchanting collection of 52 portraits of British street people will be on display for the first time in the National Portrait Gallery’s winter show, Dempsey’s People: a folio of British street portraits 1824-1844.

Chairman Sid Myer AM, Hayley Baillie, Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, Patrick Corrigan AM, Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Penny Fowler AM, John Liangis, Dr Helen Nugent AC and Nigel Satterley AM

Foundation Members

Foundation

Chairman Sid Myer AM, Hayley Baillie, Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, Patrick Corrigan AM, Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Penny Fowler AM, John Liangis, Dr Helen Nugent AC and Nigel Satterley AM.

Bathing woman, Bridlington, c.1825 by John Dempsey

Allow me to introduce...

These full-length figures in watercolour, gouache and pencil date mostly from the 1820s, and almost all come from the collection of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.

Frances Perry, c. 1863

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Purchased 2012

Giving and getting

The exhibition Portraits for Posterity celebrates gifts to the Gallery, of purchases made with donated funds, and testifies to the generosity and community spirit of Australians.

Ada Jemima Crossley

Ada Jemima Crossley (1874–1929), singer, was one of several Australian-born divas to achieve an international reputation in the late nineteenth century.

2 portraits in the collection

Nellie Melba, 1898

Ernest Walter Histed

Archived media releases 2018

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

National Portrait Gallery unveils twenty new portrait commissions to celebrate twenty years

18 October 2018

The National Portrait Gallery has unveiled twenty new portrait commissions of Australian leaders and individualists as part of its twentieth birthday celebrations in a new exhibition, 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

To Look Within

Self Portraits in Australia

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present

Olivia Newton-John, 1978 (printed 2017)

Gary Heery

Purchased 2017

John Lort Stokes

John Lort Stokes (1812–1885), explorer, naval officer and surveyor, joined the navy at age twelve and age thirteen was assigned to HMS Beagle as a midshipman.

1 portrait in the collection

Captain W Kinghorne, 1834

Thomas James Lempriere

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2007

Making Portraits

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2022

The considered matching of artist to subject has produced an amazing collection of unique and original works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery

Skyhooks (Red Symons, Bob Starkie, Shirley Strachan, Greg Macainsh, Freddie Strauks) in Parker’s studio, Fitzroy, 1975 David Parker

Cool cool world

Penelope Grist unpacks photographs by David Parker, who captured the phenomenal emergence of the 1970s and 80s Melbourne music scene.

Gustavus Brooke, c. 1865

Burman and Son

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

The Burke and Wills Monument, 1869

Thomas Foster Chuck

Portrait, albumen paper photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

The spirit of the gift

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers celebrates the support given to the Gallery by Gordon and Marilyn Darling.

Diana Pockley

Diana Pockley (née Longridge, 1913–2011), gardener, fundraiser and amateur historian, was born in Exeter, Devon, England and completed her secondary education in Brighton.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir George Hubert Wilkins

Sir George Hubert Wilkins (1888-1958), photographer, cinematographer, polar explorer and naturalist, spent his childhood on a farm in South Australia and became interested in photography while studying engineering and music at the University of Adelaide.

1 portrait in the collection

The fat of the land

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper

Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) is inscribed in Australian legend as the ‘Cattle King’.

Edward John Eyre, 1867

Julia Margaret Cameron

Presented by Sir Roy Strong and the late Dr Julia Trevelyan Oman in memory of their friendship with Gordon Darling and Marilyn Darling 2006

Georg von Neumayer, c. 1860

Johnstone & Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Thomas Woolner

Magazine article by Leonie Hellmers, 2004

Thomas Woolner, sculptor, studied first with the brothers Henry and William Behnes, painter and sculptor respectively, and later at the Royal Academy, at which he was to become professor of sculpture in his fifties.

5 portraits in the collection

Life class

Barbara Blackman reflects on her experiences as a life model.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

C.H.T. Costantini

Charles Henry Theodore Costantini (also Constantine, Constantini and Costantine) was a Paris-born surgeon of Italian descent who was twice transported to the Australian colonies in the 1820s.

1 portrait in the collection

William Henry Harvey

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

William Henry Harvey (1811-1866), botanist, formed a boyhood passion for natural history which was encouraged at Ballitore School, County Kildare.

1 portrait in the collection

Martha Mary Robertson, 1866

Portrait, pigment photographic prints on paper, hand ground glass

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Blow Back, 2018

Julie Rrap

Gift of the artist 2024. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

William St. Leonards Robertson, c. 1869

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Ralph Heimans AM

Sydney-based painter Ralph Heimans AM (b. 1970) is one of the world's foremost contemporary portraitists, having created a body of work that has expanded and redefined the possibilities of what is sometimes perceived as an inflexibly traditional genre.

19 portraits in the collection

Cocky McGrath

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

The long life and few words of a vice-regal cockatoo

Nicholas Chevalier, c. 1867

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Australian Love Stories

4 January 2021

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

A major new exhibition celebrating love in all its guises. Opening 20 March 2021.

Private virtues public lives

Family affections are preserved in a fine selection of intimate portraits.

Expect the unexpected

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

Joanna Gilmour revels in accidental artist Charles Rodius’ nineteenth century renderings of Indigenous peoples.

Edward Riou

Captain Moonlite et al on trial for murder

Edward Riou (1762-1801), naval officer, began his career with the Royal Navy at the age of twelve.

2 portraits in the collection

Andrew George Scott, alias Captain Moonlite, c.1879 attributed to Charles Nettleton

Diseased curiosity

Magazine article by Tenille Hands, 2018

Just after 10.00 o'clock on 3 December 1879, four prisoners were brought from their cells at Darlinghurst Gaol and placed in the dock of a courtroom heaving with agitated spectators

The life of Bryant

Tenille Hands explores a portrait prize gifted to the National Screen and Sound Archive.

Top shot that

Magazine article by Gideon Haigh, 2009

Gideon Haigh discusses portraits of Australian cricketers from the early 20th century

Venetia, Lady Digby, circa 1633-1634 by Sir Anthony van Dyck

Love in the extreme

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2020

Joanna Gilmour reveals love’s more intense manifestations in the tale of Lord Kenelm and Venetia Digby.

The cook (Michael Schmidt/architect), 1987

Hall of mirrors

Magazine article by Naomi Cass, 2007

Naomi Cass, Director of the Centre of Contemporary Photography, in conversation with Anne Zahalka.

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

10 February 2021

Explore The Popular Pet Show

To celebrate the new exhibition Australian Love Stories, renowned Australian glass artist Harriet Schwarzrock has been commissioned to make a large-scale installation reflecting on the role the heart plays as our emotional centre.

Janet Dawson

When soulmates Janet Dawson and Michael Boddy moved from Sydney to a property, Boddy was clear about why: ‘Our marriage is one long conversation - we moved to the bush so we could talk to each other without so many interruptions.’

Part of the crew of His Majesty's Ship Guardian endeavouring to escape in the boats

Part of the crew of His Majesty's Ship Guardian endeavouring to escape in the boats, 1790

Robert Dodd

Portrait, aquatint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

History

About us

How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be

Portrait of Captain Edward Riou, 1801

James Heath after Samuel Shelley

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Portrait of Elizabeth Gould with a raptor, possibly a red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus), painted in her lifetime Artist unknown

Birds of a feather

Magazine article by Annette Twyman, 2021

Charting a path from cockatiel to finch, Annette Twyman explores her family portraits and stories.

Philanthropic donations enable otherwise unobtainable acquisition

20 October 2016

Archived media releases 2016

A magnanimous portrait of Helena Rubinstein has been acquired for the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

Tracks in the sand

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

Dr Sarah Engledow discusses Quentin Jones's photograph of Australian author Tim Winton.

Announcing... Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence.

30 November 2023

Media

In March 2024, the National Portrait Gallery will launch a major exhibition of the work of Ralph Heimans AM, the Australian artist who’s painted some of the world’s most recognisable people.

On the road again

Magazine article by Dr Deborah Hill, 2017

Deborah Hill talks figures with character, as the National Portrait Gallery touring exhibitions program welcomes its millionth visitor.

All there in black and white

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

The National Portrait Gallery acquired a beguiling silhouette group portrait by Samuel Metford, an English artist who spent periods of his working life in America.

It's a Mora!

Magazine article by Tedi Bills, 2016

Select extracts from Mirka Mora's autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous, provide rich accompaniment to recent Gallery acquisitions.

A bear of great substance

Just in time for Christmas, Angus reflects on the most special present he has ever received.

The Stories Beneath

The Alcoa World Alumina Australia gift.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.

Rupert Bunny

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny (1864–1947) was one of the most celebrated Australian expatriate artists of his generation, achieving a degree of success in Paris in the 1890s and early 1900s that was unmatched by his peers.

3 portraits in the collection

Black tie or wombat: How formal should I go?

Michael Desmond discusses the portrait of Senator Neville Bonner by Robert Campbell Jnr.

Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Louis-Claude Desaulses de Freycinet (1779–1842), hydrographer and cartographer, sailed with Nicolas Baudin on the Expédition aux terres australes, a journey of discovery, commissioned by Napoléon, to the unknown southern coast of New Holland.

1 portrait in the collection

Flash mob

Sarah Engledow trains her exacting lens on the nine photographs from 20/20.

Amy Johnson wearing a woollen suit from the collection of flight clothes designed by Madame Schiaparelli for her solo flight from London to Cape Town, 1938 unknown photographer

Air wear

Magazine article by Esther Agostino, 2015

Aviation carried women’s roles in society to greater heights – fashion followed suit.

Of human clay

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

The first collaborative commission has arrived. It's a self portrait, it's ceramic and it's from Hermannsburg.

Desert Island Discs

Archived media releases 2015

I agonized over the choice of four songs to take with me to the ABC Studios for Alex Sloan’s Canberra 666 afternoon program, a sort of iteration of the old BBC Desert Island Discs.

Andrew Sayers AM FAHA

13 October 2015

The Chairman, Board, Director and staff mourn the loss of the National Portrait Gallery's inaugural director.

2023 Annual Appeal

Annual Appeal

In 2023 the Annual Appeal was focussed on a work by one of Australia's best loved and most successful portrait painters, Judy Cassab AO CBE, depicting model, entrepreneur and deportment icon, June Dally-Watkins OAM.

Queen Victoria

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

Last Sunday I had the privilege of appearing at the Canberra Writers’ Festival in conversation with Julia Baird. The subject of our session was Julia’s recent biography, Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman who Ruled an Empire.

Good, bad and the ugly

Michael Desmond explores what makes a portrait subject significant.

Ingres in Paris

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2006

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was one of the greatest portrait painters in history.

Portrait of Lady Eyre Williams (Jessie Gibbon)

Chance encounter

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2016

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of one of Melbourne's early socialites, Jessie Eyre Williams.

The hands have it

Angus Trumble treats the gallery’s collection with a dab hand.

Adam’s Prize Apples

Magazine article by Pamela Gerrish Nunn, 2016

Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores New Zealand’s premium award for portraiture.

A guy from Paris

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2018

Sarah Engledow on a foundational gallery figure who was quick on the draw.

Australian Dance Party and Catapult Dance performing Connecting Stories: Innovations at the National Portrait Gallery, 2022 Lorna Sim

Let’s dance

Magazine article by Emma Batchelor, 2022

Emma Batchelor uncovers the compelling contemporary dance made in response to the works in Shakespeare to Winehouse.

Dupain detective

Magazine article by Johanna McMahon, 2019

Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.

Shakespeare to Winehouse: Icons from the National Portrait Gallery, London

Announcing Shakespeare to Winehouse

24 November 2021

More than eighty treasures from the National Portrait Gallery London will travel to Canberra for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from March 2022.

Eileen Dunne in The Hospital for Sick Children, 1940

The incomparable Beaton

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders and Dr Christopher Chapman, 2018

To accompany the exhibition Cecil Beaton: Portraits, held at the NPG in 2005, this article is drawn from Hugo Vickers's authorised biography, Cecil Beaton (1985).

Selfhood transcended

Anne Sanders and Christopher Chapman bring passionate characterisation to Express Yourself, the Portrait Gallery collection exhibition celebrating iconoclastic Australians.

Poet of the Fleeting Moment

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2004

Mark Strizic's work crosses a broad spectrum of photographic fields including urban, industrial, commercial, and architectural photography.

20/20 launch speech

Dr Helen Nugent AO, Chairman, National Portrait Gallery at the opening of 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

The personal and the historical

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2016

Where do we draw a line between the personal and the historical? Although she died in Melbourne in 1975, when I was not quite eleven years old, I have the vividest memories of my maternal grandmother Helen Borthwick.

Director John Duigan and actor Judy Davis on the set of ‘Winter of our Dreams’, Sydney, 1981 by Robert McFarlane

Natural born stiller

Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.

Support Crew

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2011

Portraits of philanthropists in the collection honour their contributions to Australia and acknowledge their support of the National Portrait Gallery.

Sir Thomas Gore-Browne, 1864

J Walch & Sons

Portrait, tinted lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Subtle emotion

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2010

Christopher Chapman considers photographer Rozalind Drummond's portrait of author Nam Le.

Poets' Portraits

The Portrait Gallery's paintings of two poets, Les Murray and Peter Porter, demonstrate two very different artists' responses to the challenge of representing more than usually sensitive and imaginative men.

Sunset in the drawing room at Chesney Wold by Hablot Knight Brown

Portraiture in a Bleak House

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

It may seem an odd thing to do at one’s leisure on a beautiful tropical island, but I spent much of my midwinter break a few weeks ago re-reading Bleak House.

The Mutineers turning Lieut Bligh and part of the Officers and Crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty

High & Bligh

Joanna Gilmour explores the 1790 portrait of William Bligh by Robert Dodd.

Arianne McNaught

NPPP 2012 learning resource

An interview with the photographer.

Little John of Colchester, a poor lunatic, c.1823 by John Dempsey

Dempsey's people

Magazine article by Karl James, 2015

Those of you who are active in social media circles may be aware that through the past week I have unleashed a blitz on Facebook and Instagram in connection with our new winter exhibition Dempsey’s People: A Folio of British Street Portraits, 1824−1844.

Lauded legacy

Karl James gives short shrift to doubts about the profile of General Sir John Monash.

Facing Australia, Composite portrait: Facing St Lucia, 2003

Conflicting images

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

Michael Desmond reveals the origins of composite portraits and their evolution in the pursuit of the ideal.

Sophisticated and glamorous

Magazine article by Amanda Rowell, 2015

Michael Riley’s early portraits by Amanda Rowell.

Hearts of Darkness

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2006

The National Portrait Gallery's acquisition of the portrait of Edward John Eyre by pioneering English photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

Cachasunghia, Osage Warrior 1804–06 by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin

Political profiles

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

Joanna Gilmour examines the prolific output of Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, and discovers the risk of taking a portrait at face value.

Wicked but Virtuous

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

Faith Stellmaker shares pioneering artist and restaurateur Mirka Mora’s lasting legacy on Melbourne’s art, dining and culture.

A real Pratt

The death of a gentlewoman is shrouded in mystery, a well-liked governor finds love after sorrow, and two upright men become entangled in the historical record.

Kristin Headlam

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Basil grew into a speckled beauty – a long-legged leaper and an exceptionally vocal dog, with a great register of sounds, ascending in shock value from a whimper to a growl to a bark to a yelp that’s a violation of the ears.

More cash than dash

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.

Indexing, the art of

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

The first index I created was for my first book, and, to my astonishment, that was almost twenty-five years ago.

Alexander Pearce
executed for murder
July 19th 1824

Public hanging

As a convict Thomas Bock was required to sketch executed murders for science; as a free man, fashionable society portraits.

Painting mates

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011

Michael Desmond discusses Fred Williams' portraits of friends, artist Clifton Pugh, David Aspden and writer Stephen Murray-Smith, and the stylistic connections between his portraits and landscapes.

Brooke Lockett, Heidi Martin, Karen Nanasca, Halaina Hills; New York, 2012 Lisa Tomasetti

Dance like everyone’s watching

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

Penelope Grist’s spirits soar with Lisa Tomasetti’s Dancers in the Streets series.

Oz and beyond

Martin Sharp fulfils the Pop art idiom of merging art and life.

"Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?", 1956

Pop goes the preconception

Magazine article by Paul Moorhouse, 2007

A National Portrait Gallery, London exhibition redefines portraiture, shifting the focus towards a new perspective on Pop Art.

Virginia Woolf, 1902 George Charles Beresford

Love my way

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2022

Inga Walton delves into the bohemian group of artists and writers who used each other as muses and transformed British culture.

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th birthday party

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th Anniversary

Magazine article by Rebecca Ray, 2023

Last month we marked the twentieth anniversary of the formal establishment of the National Portrait Gallery, the tenth of the opening of our signature building, and the fifth of our having become a statutory authority under Commonwealth legislation.

Aretha Brown

In conversation

Gumbaynggirr artist Aretha Brown talks street art, collaboration and ghost stories with First Nations Curator and Meriam woman, Rebecca Ray.

Poison pen

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

Michael Desmond examines the career of the eighteenth-century suspected poisoner and portrait artist Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

Mural of Italian/Roman actress Anna Magnani (1908–1973) with face mask, April 2020 Unknown artist

Of plague and portraits

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Corinna Cullen on the symbolic power of pandemic-related imagery over the ages.

General Birdwood, the Idol of Anzac, taking a dip in the sea after a hard days work 1915

In the thick of it

Projecting the splendour of the empire, and the resolve of its subjects, the bust of William Birdwood keeps a stiff upper lip in the National Portrait Gallery.

You are who?

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

Joanna Gilmour reflects on merging collections and challenging traditional assumptions around portraiture in WHO ARE YOU.

Pop poet

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2013

Dr Anne Sanders previews the works in the new focus exhibition Paul Kelly and The Portraits.

Australians in Hollywood

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2003

The exhibition Australians in Hollywood celebrated the achievements of Australians in the highly competitive American film industry.

Secure the shadow ere the substance fade

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

The tragic tale of Tom Wills, the ‘inventor’ of Australian Rules Football.

Monument to Mrs. Moore St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool, Sydney

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

Beyond the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli, a number of other notable anniversaries converge this year. Waterloo deserves a little focussed consideration, for in the decades following 1815 numerous Waterloo and Peninsular War veterans came to Australia.

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

George Selth Coppin (1819-1906) comedian, impresario and entrepreneur, was a driving force of the early Australian theatre.

The Cutmear sisters, Jane and Lucy, c. 1842

A man of superior attainments

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of a colonial portrait artist, writer and rogue Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

Portrait of William Manning, c.1821 by Henry Bone

Of beef in burgundy

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2017

Angus Trumble reveals the complex technical mastery behind a striking recent acquisition, Henry Bone’s enamel portrait of William Manning.

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011

Magazine article by Robyn Sweaney, 2016

Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.

Untitled (girl on chair with red shoes) by Violet Frisby

Finding Mrs Frisby

Robyn Sweaney's quiet Violet obsession.

Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil, ca.1753-55

Canadian identities

Magazine article by Lilly Koltun, 2004

An exploration of national identity in the Canadian context drawn from the symposium Face to Face at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2004.

Miles from nowhere, 2008 (printed 2014) from the Games of consequence series 2008 Polixeni Papapetrou

Mother’s muse

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2020

Inga Walton traces the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, revealed in the NGV’s summer retrospective.

Thinking about architecture and portraiture

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Dr Christopher Chapman describes the experimental exhibition Portraits + Architecture

Worth her salt

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

Jerrold Nathan's portrait of Jessie Street shows the elegant side of a many-faceted lady.

Material culture

The Rajah Quilt’s narrative promptings are as intriguing as the textile is intricate.

Of ice and men

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2019

Frank Hurley's celebrated images document the heroism and minutiae of Australian exploration in Antarctica.

Eating the seasons

Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.

20 20

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2017

Sarah Engledow picks some favourites from a decade of the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Confessional conversations

The portraiture of Kristin Headlam

Magazine article by Fiona Gruber, 2015

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

Studio portrait of Lord Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War, 1914 by J Russell & Sons

All the way with K of K

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

Sarah Engledow bristles at the biographers’ neglect of Kitchener’s antipodean intervention.

Revd Dr Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, c.1795 by Sir Henry Raeburn

Great Scots

Magazine article by Diana O'Neil, 2017

Diana O’Neil samples the tartan treats on offer in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The importance of being bearded

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2012

Joanna Gilmour discovers that the beards of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills were as epic as their expedition to traverse Australia from south to north.

Splendid, many-splendoured

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2021

Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.

Costantini's convictions

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2017

Jo Gilmour uncovers endearing authenticity in the art of a twice-transported Tasmanian.

Cover, first minute book of the Tasmanian Society of Natural History

Embrace your inner nerd

The southern winter has arrived. For people in the northern hemisphere (the majority of humanity) the idea of snow and ice, freezing mist and fog in June, potentially continuing through to August and beyond, encapsulates the topsy-turvidom of our southern continent.

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster

To the end of the earth

The portrait of Dr. Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster from 1780, is one of the oldest in the NPG's collection.

Friends and Acquaintances

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2015

Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.

First-Class Marksman, 1946 by Sidney Nolan

Money for Myth

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

Sydney city (Patrick White and Tom Uren, Hiroshima Day demonstration), 1984

The activist A-list

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

Dr Sarah Engledow examines a number of figures in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery who were pioneers or substantial supporters of the seminal Australian environmental campaigns of the early 1970s and 1980s.

Christmas Island

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2015

This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.

Getting a head

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

Louis XVI giving final instructions to the Comte de La Perouse, c. 1785

Sea legged frogs

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

Joanna Gilmour describes some of the stories of the individuals and incidents that define French exploration of Australia and the Pacific.

The Dissecting Room

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

Joanna Gilmour accounts for Australia’s deliciously ghoulish nineteenth century criminal portraiture.

Starry knight

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Aircraft designer, pilot and entrepreneur, Sir Lawrence Wackett rejoins friends and colleagues on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.

Progressive pictures

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2017

Athol Shmith’s photographs contributed to the emergence of a new vision of Australian womanhood.

Waterfall in Australia, c. 1830 by Augustus Earle

Augustus serendipitous

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825.

Mugshots

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.

The artist and her family, c. 1854 by Martha Berkeley

Presence and absence

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

The art of Australia’s colonial women painters affords us an invaluable, alternative perspective on the nascent nation-building project.

Sarah Bernhardt, 1876 by Georges Clairin

Demimonde liaisons

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2017

Jane Raffan feasts on modernity’s entrée in the Belle Époque theatre of the demimonde.

Study in scarlet

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2018

Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.

Nicholas Harding

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Over the years the young Nicholas Harding got his hands on various mice and guinea pigs, but they served mainly to illustrate the concept of mortality.

Lady Jane Grey, c.1590-1600 (also known as The ‘Streatham’ portrait) Artist unknown

The Royal she

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2019

Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.

Little women

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.

Practising the Minuet (Miss Hilda Spong)

An actress and her fans

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

Dr. Sarah Engledow discovers the amazing life of Ms. Hilda Spong, little remembered star of the stage, who was captured in a portrait by Tom Roberts.

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, 1885-86 by
John Singer Sargent

A feast of friends

Magazine article by Richard Ormond, 2015

John Singer Sargent: a painter at the vanguard of contemporary movements in music, literature and theatre.

Regarding Henrys

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.

Thrown together

Shipmates for years, James Cook and Joseph Banks each kept a journal but neither man shed light on their relationship.

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

At first glance, this small watercolour group portrait of her two sons and four daughters by Maria Caroline Brownrigg (d. 1880) may seem prosaic, even hesitant

Some prime ministers

NPPP 2017 exhibition essay

Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.

Trevor Jamieson, 2016 by Brett Canet-Gibson

The more things change...

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.

Helen Blaxland judging flower arrangements, c. 1940s photographer unknown

Petal to the mettle

Sarah Engledow lauds the very civil service of Dame Helen Blaxland.

The silent partner

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

One half of the team that was Eltham Films left scarcely a trace in the written historical record, but survives in a vivid portrait.

Forest Creek, Mount Alexander Diggings, 1852 by S. T. Gill

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Some years ago my colleague Andrea Wolk Rager and I spent several days in the darkened basement of a Rothschild Bank, inspecting every one of the nearly 700 autochromes created immediately before World War I by the youthful Lionel de Rothschild.

The art of Inner Worlds

Lecture, 7 May 2011